Guardian Demon
by Bmaried
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze is an amateur Vampire Hunter and heir to the title of Hokage, the head of the Hunter's Council. However after his families death he can't get past his hatred for the vampires. Sasuke Uchiha is a vampire commissioned to protect the hunter from the shadows. What happens when they're forced to meet and neither is ready to accept the other? Yaoi, language, gore.
1. Prologue

Rated: M for lemon and lime in later chapters, language as well as gore. Read at your own risk~

AU, slight OOC-ness, I'm trying to keep the characters relatively close but still play with the story.

This is my first fanfic and I know I have horrible grammar, sorry.

SasuNaru, KakaIru, KyuuIta, NejiGaa, ShikaTema, KibaHina, Light HashiMada way later (This might become it's own story though it'll still be mentioned.)

**I'm only gonna do fluff for all shipping's except SasuNaru unless directly asked to add a lemon moment for a shipping which will most likely be added in a small omake.**

Also **Naru****k****o** and Sasuke had no romantic/intimate relationship just to make that clear

Disclaimer- If I owned Naruto Sasuke and Naruto would have long realized their feelings for one another.

Now on to the story or well prologue *~*

* * *

Cerulean eyes that seemed to challenge the skies beauty; perfectly framed by delicate, lush blond lashes. Strawberry blond locks slightly parted to the left and naturally spiking off to the side; soft to the touch and still holding an unnatural silky texture. Sun-kissed, caramel skin framing a delicate and fragile form. The small body still having hard and prominent muscles, slight traces of baby fat struggling to make itself known. Plain to the eye were three scars on each cheek matching to the other side. His face was heart-shaped with plump pink lips and a sharp nose. Honestly he was beyond breathtaking, as if looking at a god . . . or a sinful dream.

"You're staring at him like a piece of meat Sasuke." The voice cooed playfully. Staring at the man, Sasuke, who stood next to him. Sasuke was drop-dead gorgeous, when compared to the man they were watching, he held a much more mature and mysterious air. You couldn't even compare the stunning creatures. Sasuke had pale, creamy skin not even a freckle tarnishing the immaculate figure. He stood a few inches taller than the other body, just as slim, if not more so. However his body still rough with similar muscles and the baby fat long gone. His features were sharp as dark, clouded onyx eyes stared down, raven black bangs slightly shadowing over the fierce glare. His black, silky hair was long at the sides reaching to his chin and hugging his face. His bangs were much shorter just barely reaching his eyes, lightly brushing his long black eyelashes. Whereas the hair in the back of his head defied gravity spiking up into a duck's butt type style.

"Hn. That's what he is Kakashi." Sasuke replied as the two stood on the roof of the house across from their target. Watching their prey through his window. The house was two-floors with tan paint on the outside. There was a white garage door at the houses front next to a white, two door entrance. Each room had its own window, the only light on was in the kitchen, where the blonde sat.

"I didn't ask for your help simply so you could harm the boy," Kakashi bluntly replied.

". . ." Sasuke shot a glare at Kakashi, waiting for an explanation.

"He's your newest charge."

"Why exactly must I watch the snot nosed brat?"

"Because that 'snot nosed brat' is to take the name Hokage in three years and until that happens we can't lose him. The boy is named Naruto Uzumaki. Granted the name that would be more likely to interest you is Namikaze." Kakashi spared a glance at the raven, watching his reaction. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary he decided to continue, "Naruto is the son of Minato and Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze. Brother of Naruko Uzumaki-Namikaze. Amateur Vampire hunter. Heir to the Hunters Council Head."

"Hmm, I thought the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan was completely wiped out with the massacre 17 years ago."

"The youngest son was only a baby at the time and had been spending the night at Iruka's. They may be merciless killers to our kind but they had heart enough to not leave their youngest child home while they prepared to go vampire hunting."

"Hah, Naruko and Naruto huh? How creative."

"Jiraiya named them," Kakashi replied, as though it clarified everything.

"Hn." Kakashi looked at the raven, giving a small laugh.

"You still haven't changed. But your interest has peaked has it not?"

"Naruko and I worked together, nothing more, nothing less. As vampire hunters our skills complimented each other. I have no reason to be interested in this job more so than I would be for another."

Kakashi released an irritated sigh but decided to ignore Sasuke's comment, "As of now, Naruto is 18. He will turn 21 in three years and only then will he take his rightful seat as Hokage, the head of the Hunter Council. He currently has minimal training as a hunter. Skills: He excels in speed and stealth however he has a hard time concentrating and is easily distracted. Despite that he has an amazing stamina and inhuman agility. He can also easily form a bond with anyone. Powers: As of yet unknown. As I said speed and stealth. Flexibility and agility. Stamina and strength. His physical abilities easily match any vampires. Mentality wise however he can be considered rather slow. Still, he's a fast learner if something is bluntly explained. Emotionally speaking he's got a quick temper; rash and unpredictable. Overall, I think he'll be an admirable hunter and a worthy opponent."

"So he's the male version of Naruko?"

"Well, Naruko was a bit more skilled and was a very quick witted girl not to mention she was one of the best, so it's not right to compare them."

"I don't know, Naruko's dead, Naruto's not."

"Ouch, harsh much?"

"Hn."

"Would you stop with the hn's? Geez it's so hard to have a conversation with you damn Uchiha's."

"Hn." Kakashi turned glaring at Sasuke, standing up from where he had been crouching on the house's roof. He spared a final glance into the blonde's house; The young blonde stood from his dining room table, grabbing his now empty plate and heading to the sink, oblivious to the two figures stalking him. Finally Kakashi turned to fully face the raven and the raven followed suit, keeping a close eye on his fellow vampire. The man was attractive with silver-white hair, all of his hair brushed to the left and spiking up. He had a mask covering his face and scarred left eye. Only his left dark brown eye was visible and his skin a warm beige. Kakashi released a sigh knowing his anger was useless when pitted against the Uchiha.

"I know you're sour after being called back from your vacation in The Land of Lightning, but you need to take this job seriously."

"Just because my brother is on the Hunter's Council doesn't mean I need to participate in your little babysitting job."

"Listen Sasuke. You're the best we got outside of the council. Even more so, unlike us, you can freely move around and not worry about the consequences. That's why you were chosen for this job. You can go to school with him, become his friend-," Kakashi stopped as he was given a deathly glare, "Or you can watch from the background and hide your presence enough we don't have to worry about Naruto, or any other hunters or vampires spotting you. "

Sasuke withheld the urge to sigh, "So what is it that I have to do?"

"You actually don't have much to do. Just whenever he leaves his house for something other than school we need you to keep an eye on him and make sure no vampires move in for a taste. Iruka has your information and will contact you whenever Naruto goes out. Naruto won't know about it and if you can help it, don't let him know. After knowing about the circumstances behind his families death, he's grown an unhealthy hatred for our kind. So if we can help it, we'd prefer to keep him out of the underworld as much as we can, until it becomes necessary."

Sasuke gave a small smirk, "You plan to give the job of Hokage to a prejudiced dobe. How do you plan on dealing with that 'small' problem?" Kakashi watched Sasuke's emotionless glare and released a sigh.

"His caretaker, Iruka, is a vampire. We want to see his reactions once he learns before we make any other decisions. Until then we don't wish to reveal any other vampires that are part of his inner circle."

"There are more?"

"Most of his inner circle consists of vampires and hunters. Granted he knows they're hunters. He just doesn't know we've snuck some vampires in too."

"How'd you manage that?" Sasuke asked raising a dark eyebrow.

"Tsunade is the principal at his school, most of the people he interacts with are part of the Hunter's Association, including his classmates."

"Is any part of his life not planned out beforehand?"

"Don't say it like that Sasuke."

"My tone of voice didn't change."

Kakashi sighed once more, wondering how many times the Uchiha would make him sigh in such discontent, "We do what we must to ensure his position as Hokage and to ensure his safety."

"This is why I left, the ideal of controlling another's life. Hn. Not that I care as long as it's not me."

"We do what we must Sasuke. There's no other way to say it." Kakashi replied.

"Hn." Sasuke scowled as he snobbishly turned away from Kakashi walking along the rooftop, watching the rows of houses that were evenly pushed against each other.

"Where are you going?"

"I know the charge, I know my job, what else is there?"

"So you'll do it?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not that I know of."

"Hn. So I have to play stalker then?"

"Haha and they say you don't have a sense of humor!"

"Whatever, I'm returning now."

"Are you taking over the Uchiha corporations now that you're back?"

"Well do you plan on continuing to run it?"

"Not if I don't have to."

"Then that answers that."

"Does Itachi plan on working with it at all?"

"He has too much work with the council. Now may I leave?"

"Hey I'm just trying to keep up the conversation, after all the last time we met was the funeral. How many years ago was that?"

"Hn. I'm leaving." Sasuke replied stuffing his hands in his pockets and calmly jumping away with such speed no human eye could follow the vampire's movements. Kakashi watched the immortal's movements, smiling to himself knowingly at the raven's refusal to answer him.

"So he still hasn't come to terms. Poor bastard." Kakashi mumbled to himself walking along the roof. After a second of watching the full moon he calmly walked off the roof top, disappearing in a flash before he even hit the ground, jumping away with vampire speed.

* * *

Rate, review, follow or fav. Of course if you like it. As I said this is my first fanfic so if it's absolutely horrid don't feel bad about telling me. Also for you Yaoi lovers Sasuke was never in a romantic/intimate relationship with Naruko! Nor did he have such feelings for her. Read on for more information on their relationship~ Of course if you want them to have a relationship then you can use your imagination or mention it so I don't completely shut your fantasies down :P


	2. Chapter 1

Rated: M for lemon and lime in later chapters, language as well as gore . Read at your own risk~

AU, slight OOC-ness, I'm trying to keep the characters relatively close but still play with the story.

Disclaimer- If I owned Naruto Sasuke and Naruto would have long realized their feelings for one another.

So this is the first real chapter of Guardian Demon. There will be P.O.V. changes signified by the break shown below.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Well don't forget to give me your opinion and fav the story if you like it.** I'd like to thank Haruka Uzumaki21 for the idea of NejiGaa and KyuuIta!**

**I'm only gonna do fluff for all shipping's except SasuNaru unless directly asked to add a lemon moment for a shipping which will most likely be added in a small omake**.

SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaa, KyuuIta, ShikaTema, KibaHina, Light HashiMada way later (This might become its own story though it'll still be mentioned.)

"Blah" Talking

'_Blah_' Thinking

**Blah** Music

Also for the moon rise in this chapter I was following the time the moon rose in my own state, Florida. As well as doing a bit of research that said Japan's moon rises at 8:23 so, yeah. okay

There's a bit of violence/gore at the last section, with Sasuke but it's nothing really bloody or disgusting. Now onto the story. Whoop!

* * *

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"This goes here," Sasuke mumbled as he went through his files. He sat at a large ebony desk littered with papers and scattered writing utensils. In front of him was a gray monitor with a small keyboard connected to the monitor by a single cord. "This, here," Sasuke continued setting a file in his hand on a stack to his left. His office was a large cube-shaped, silver room. Three large windows sat behind his desk taking up the entire back wall. There were two gray sitting chairs in front of his desk. The middle of the room having a large leather, black couch on the right wall and two black, leather chairs on the opposite walls. A glass coffee table in between the couch and chairs. The opposite wall, to the desk, holding two wooden doors to enter the office. "Why do I even have this?" Sasuke murmured crumbling the paper and tossing it in the small trash can next to his desk. He turned, hearing his ringtone and rummaging through his desk.

**No time for goodbye he said**

** As he faded away**

** Don't put your life in someone's hands**

** They're bound to steal it away**

** Don't hide your mistakes**

** 'Cause they'll find you, burn you**

** Then he said**

"Dammit this is not the time for this shit!" Sasuke cursed as he finally pulled his phone from the top drawer of his desk, shooting an unsettling glare at the device. Then he picked up his phone, "Uchiha speaking."

"Ah, Sasuke, it's Iruka. Naruto is heading to the park with some friends and I need you to watch over him."

"Iruka. It is the middle of the afternoon and almost all newborn vampires' burn in the sun. You're over protective, even more so, aren't ninety percent of his friends part of the Hunter's Association?"

"Is the Uchiha complaining?" Iruka replied jokingly.

"Hn. Just stating the obvious."

"As long as he's safe I don't care."

"Just understand how he'll most likely react after finding out most of his life was mapped out beforehand," Sasuke continued, wondering how Iruka was dealing with the unavoidable problem.

"We'll deal with that when it becomes a problem."

"Hmm Kakashi's rubbed off on you, or is it the other way around?"

"T-t-that has n-nothing to do with this!" Iruka exclaimed embarrassingly. Sasuke gave a small smirk,

"I'm on the way." The raven finally said hanging up the phone, "At least I got to tease him before I castrate that ass Kakashi, dumping all this damn work on me as soon as I return. Tch."

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Where are they?" Naruto mumbled as he looked around the park. Several young children dragging their parents around as they ran to and from the different playground equipment and other games. Naruto slightly laughed at the display.

"Yo Naruto!" Naruto turned to the voice, seeing his best friend, Kiba. He was an average sized man with a sturdy build and wide shoulders. He had a head of raggedy, slightly spiked brown hair and brown eyes. His canines were slightly longer than an average persons but most people affiliated that with the large amount of dogs his family took care of. On each cheek was a red triangle that he got tattooed one night due to a drunken dare.

"Kiba! My man!" Naruto smiled running over to the man, bringing a fist up to his friend and getting a responding fist-bump.

"Come on, you're late Naruto! Same teams as always. Lee, Chouji and Shikamaru against you, Kankuro and me."

"That's it? Where are the others?"

"Well the girls obviously didn't care for coming to a small soccer game. Then Gaara and Shino were busy."

"Hmm? No fun. Well at least we got enough for equal teams. What about a ref?"

"Come on bro, it's a friendly game we don't need anyone to ref!" Kiba exclaimed pulling Naruto to their group of friends.

"Ah, okay," Naruto called allowing himself to be dragged to his friends. He looked at the others. First, Lee, he was a spritely guy. He had a rather small figure but you wouldn't find a better athlete in this city of Konoha. He had large, round dark brown eyes and black silky hair cut into a rather uncomfortable bowl cut. What really popped about him was his large black eyebrows. Seriously those things took up nearly a quarter of his forehead. Chouji was a large man with a robust physique. He had long brown hair reaching just below his shoulders and slightly spiking out, his eyes a gentle light brown. He had swirl marks on his cheeks, taking up most of his cheek, another drunken dare. Shikamaru was a tall man with a slim figure. He has shoulder length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and brown eyes. For the most part he wears an expression telling you he's about to die of boredom. Finally Kankuro had similar hair to Kiba's, the same ragged hair however it was a slightly darker brown and his spikes were fuller and shorter. He had brown eyes. His figure was wide and tall.

"Come on, let's play!" Naruto exclaimed jogging past his friends, further into the field. He was forcefully brought to a stop however, feeling a strange presence overcoming him. Turning, he looked into the forestry at the parks edge, just barely seeing a figure dash from behind a tree, deeper into the forest. "The fuck?" Naruto mumbled slowly beginning to move towards the forest, jumping when a hand grasped his shoulder. He turned seeing Kiba,

"Come on bro, let's play!"

"Ah okay, hey Kiba?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you see something in the forest?"

"The forest?" Kiba questioned, straining his eyes to see deeper into the forest.

"Ah, you know what, never mind let's just play," Naruto smiled roughly hitting Kiba's back.

"You sure man?"

"Yeah, come on!" Naruto smiled, grasping Kiba's shoulder harshly and pushing him towards the others.

"Really," Kiba mumbled casting a final glance back at the forest, then continuing forward, towards their friends.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_'Damn I feel like a stalker,_' Sasuke thought watching the blonde chat with his friends. Sasuke sat on a tree, a good distance from the actual field, watching the group meet up. He admired the different faces, _'some of the faces look familiar, just weren't important enough to remember the names I guess_.' Sasuke closed his eyes running a hand through his hair.

"Do you see something in the forest?" Naruto's voice broke through Sasuke's drifting thoughts. He looked at the blonde, there was no way he'd been seen right? He hadn't even moved since they arrived at the field.

"The forest?" Naruto's friend questioned.

"Ah, you know what, never mind let's just play," Naruto smiled roughly hitting the boy's back. Sasuke scratched his head awkwardly, he couldn't sense anything in the forest big enough, or close enough, to catch the blonde's attention besides himself.

"Hn." Sasuke smirked. _'As expected of an Uzumaki-Namikaze child. This might be fun_.'

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"You sure you don't want a ride, man?" Kiba asked as he, Shikamaru and Choji sat in Kiba's silver 2010 Toyota Camry.

"Nah, it's just a few minutes' walk and it's not even very dark out yet," Naruto smiled pointing up at the golden sky, as dusk settled.

"You sure man? You know the freaks come out at night," Kiba joked, winking at the blond.

"So you're staying out then?" Kiba playfully hit the back of Naruto's head.

"Okay man, be careful," Kiba replied as he settled into the driver's seat.

"Yeah, yeah, mom. You guys too." Naruto smiled lightly hitting the car's roof. "Later," Naruto finished off, backing away as he watched the car pull out. Pulling his phone out he read the bright, white numbers that illuminated the night, momentarily blinding him. "Almost 8:25. Maybe I should've taken that ride," Naruto muttered as he turned and began walking home, "Oh well," Naruto sighed walking towards his home, slightly increasing his pace. "Just my luck, not only is the street completely empty, it's cold as hell." Naruto mumbled glancing back again, _'Something's off_.' He thought turning again, swearing he saw a shadow duck into some forestry. Naruto sighed annoyed, "The hell am I doing, it's just dark and cold. My mind's just wandering. That's it, that's all!" Naruto mumbled trying to convince himself more than anything. He gave a nervous glance around the dark street, slightly increasing his pace once again. He visibly calmed as he turned onto his street, "What the hell, I'm a vampire hunter. I'm not a normal teen, I'm a vampire hunter, no shadow is gonna scare me!" Naruto convinced himself. Gathering his courage, Naruto turned glancing around the corner.

Behind the houses on the left of the street, where Naruto's house lied, was a large expanse of forestry whereas the right side, despite having a small amount of forestry, led into the more active part of downtown Konoha. On the left side of the street it took a few minutes to the park, on the right it took a few minutes to get to a club.

Naruto looked, seeing nothing, he breathed a sigh of relief then jumped, nearly peeing his pants when a nearby street light flickered slightly. "Why!? Why!? The fuck, you damn light!" Naruto yelled as he faced the light. He sighed crouching to his knees, "I'm in the middle of the street, screaming at a street light. Seriously!" Naruto sat, trying to calm his nerves as he held a hand to his rabidly beating heart. He finally stood, as he was sure his heart had calmed enough to allow him to steadily stand on his feet. Taking a deep breath he began calmly walking down the street, turning wide-eyed as a solid crack echoed throughout the street. Granted his hearing was better than the normal persons, so whether it was loud or not, he still heard it clear as day. With that, his courage washed away and he turned running to his house as fast as he could, _'Fuck this shit! I'm not about to chance fighting a fucking Oni or Yokai without any weapons. Vampires I can handle, fuck the rest of that shit!_' Naruto thought finally slamming into his house, quickly locking the door. He sighed slumping against the door and falling to his butt, breathing heavily from his small workout.

"Naruto!?" Iruka exclaimed running down the stairs. Iruka was a tan man with average height and build. He had light, black hair kept into a high pony-tail. His hair short enough that it spiked back out of the ponytail. He had dark brown eyes and his most obvious feature was a large scar running horizontally, along his nose and under his eyes. He radiated a strong aura of warmth and good-heartedness. "Are you okay? What happened?!" Iruka exclaimed kneeling next to the boy.

"Hah, hah, sorry Iruka-sensei. I'm fine. Just a little exercise." Naruto smiled embarrassed by his own cowardly actions, glad no one saw him.

"Really? Is that it?"

"Yeah, sorry for worrying you." Naruto smiled, forcing himself to his feet as he wiped off the nonexistent dirt on his pants.

"Hmm, are you sure?" Iruka asked worriedly.

"Of course!" Naruto smiled, "I'm gonna get ready for bed. Night Iruka-sensei!"

"If you say so," Iruka mumbled then continued in a more pronounced voice, "Good night, sleep well."

"You too!" Naruto called heading up the stairs.

After he was sure Naruto was outta range Iruka opened the door, hesitantly looking up and down the street. Seeing it was void of any suspicious figures, he shut the door once more, making sure to lock it. Glancing back at the silver mechanism twice before drowning out his own worry. "I wanna talk to Kakashi." Iruka embarrassingly muttered to himself.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_'What dobe walks home alone at night, on an empty street when he knows vampires are after his life, how stupid do you gotta be!'_ Sasuke though exasperated by the complete idiocy. Sasuke set a hand on his forehead, in complete disbelief. Shaking his head out of his surprise as Naruto began walking. Sasuke smirked as Naruto made small remarks about it being dark and cold. His own fear swaying him. The raven watched as Naruto gave a nervous glance before increasing his speed, _'Am I too close?'_ Sasuke thought, stopping as he hid in the forestry, allowing the distance between himself and Naruto to grow. Raising a small dark eyebrow as he swore he saw something move around in the trees in front of him. He jumped, coming from his concentration as he heard Naruto speak again. Sasuke gave a small, near inaudible laugh as Naruto commented how he was a vampire hunter and shouldn't fear the shadows. Sasuke looked back at the forest seeing the shadow once more. Closing his eyes he concentrated on his sensing ability, heightening his senses as he scanned the trees. His eyes shot open as he realized what he skipped over.

"Dammit!" Sasuke cursed under his breath as he charged toward the sensation. He appeared behind the culprit. A newborn vampire, extremely weak, as defined by his lack of presence. Sasuke gave a small smirk as Naruto began screaming at a street light for flickering. The newborn turned, hearing his slight chuckle. Sasuke's eyes turned a deep red as with a slight flicker he appeared in front of the newborn, grasping the vampire's mouth to keep him silent and using his hold to push the newborn against a nearby tree, with a forceful thrust.

"Shake your head yes or no." Sasuke whispered as he sent a deathly glare to the newborn, freezing the vampire stiff. However he came out of it slightly nodding. "Were you sent after him?" The vampire hesitantly shook his head no. "Are you lying?" Sasuke whispered, tightening his grip on the newborns mouth, intensifying the glare that already had the vampire shaking in fear. The vampire struggled, trying to fiercely shake his head no. "Have you been following him all day?" The vampire hesitantly shook his head yes. Sasuke tightened his grip in anger, mostly directed at himself for not noticing. "How old are you?" Sasuke asked sparing a glance at the vampire's fingers. The vampire raised his hand, using his fingers to count 5. "5 months?" Sasuke guessed, the vampire nodding yes._ 'That's consistent with the time a normal newborn would begin walking in the sun without getting hurt,'_ Sasuke thought, then continued his questioning, "Do you have a teacher?" The vampire solemnly shook his head no. Sasuke released the vampire, "It's useless to kill you. Get outta here, and don't go after the blonde again, next time I won't be so nice." Sasuke turned away, running a hand through his hair. The newborn slightly nodded, but as Sasuke was turned away the newborn's eyes turned blood-red, large fangs protruding from his mouth. He quickly moved forward, intent on latching onto Sasuke's neck. In the blink of an eye Sasuke had turned back to the newborn, grabbing the vampire's head and with a harsh thrust to the side he cracked the newborns neck, the sound echoing throughout the silent night. "Like hell I'd say that," Sasuke muttered, referring to his earlier comment. Sasuke listened, hearing as Naruto ran off with a fierce start. The newborn in Sasuke's grasp turning to ash as it gave its final breathe.

"Hn." Sasuke whipped his hand to the side, ridding it of the vampire's ashes. Then calmly he walked to the sidewalk, watching Naruto slam into his home, signaling the end of Sasuke's job._ 'I never thought I'd have to restrain my strength to do this job. So Naruto hadn't sensed me, but that nut job. Well I guess that's more believable but still what type of hunter runs from its prey? Even without a weapon most hunters can take such a low-level vampire. Well I guess it can't be helped for an amateur but still, what hunter fears the dark? Even more, only being bothered, not even realizing, the stalker was a vampire means he has an extremely weak sensing ability._' Sasuke shook his head. It didn't even matter at this point. _'Usuratonkachi._'

* * *

Song: Get Out alive

Artist: Three Days Grace

Thanks for reading! Fav, follow or review if you like it, it'll be much appreciated as this is my first Fanfic! I wanna try to get a little more of the story planned before I continue to the next chapter so I'd give it a week at most before it's updated, a day at least, all depends. As I said any recommendations just add in a review and I'll definitely add it in somewhere. And if you want a lemon I'll add an omake unless it can be fit into the story. Well thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 2

Rated: M for lemon and lime in later chapters, language as well as gore . Read at your own risk~

AU, slight OOC-ness, I'm trying to keep the characters relatively close but still play with the story.

Disclaimer- If I owned Naruto Sasuke and Naruto would have long realized their feelings for one another.

**I'm only gonna do fluff for all shipping's except SasuNaru unless directly asked to add a lemon moment for a shipping which will most likely be added in a small omake**.

SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaa, KyuuIta, ShikaTema, KibaHina, Light HashiMada way later (This might become its own story though it'll still be mentioned.)

"Blah" Talking

'_Blah_' Thinking

**Naruko and Sasuke had no romantic/intimate relationship just to make that clear. This chapter centers on Naruko and Sasuke's relationship. This will be the only chapter that even slightly brushes over Naruko and Sasuke for awhile. So I tried to give as much as I could about them without bluntly saying their relationship.**

Now onto the story *~*

* * *

Sasuke jumped as the doorbell went off. He lived in a large mansion, in the outskirts of town. Lazily throwing the book in his hand aside, he hastily walked over to the front door, jogging slightly as he got closer and opened the door. "Kakashi?" Sasuke questioned, looking at the man. He smiled, or well it looked like he did behind his mask, holding up his hand in a slight wave. "What do you want?"

"You're duty calls," Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow to the older male, "I'm heading over to Iruka's for an adult's night out," Sasuke glared noticing the painfully obvious perverted grin, despite the mask.

"And what does your sex life have to do with my duty?"

"We need you to watch over Naruto."

"I feel like I'm babysitting you're guys' love child."

"You see Sasuke, the problem with gay mating is no matter how much we fuc-" Sasuke raised his hand cutting Kakashi off,

"I really don't need to hear all of this, I'm coming."

"Want a ride?" Kakashi asked.

"No, I'll run."

"Okay, later." Kakashi waved, returning to his car.

"Hn." Sasuke slightly shivered as he remembered the conversation and grabbed his jacket, glaring holes at the door, willing it to stay shut. "I really wanna just stay home."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke watched the house, sitting on a tree behind it. He noticed Kakashi finally arriving, Sasuke having beat him, and he watched as the two left. He could see into the house from the window on the back of the house, granted he wasn't interested enough to look through it. Closing his eyes, he lied back against the tree, concentrating on the sounds from all around him, his mind stopping as a familiar sound rang through his ears. Without realizing it, he appeared next to the back window of the house, stopping just before he broke into the house. _That. . . I, no, that wasn't. It couldn't be. I, voice, it wasn't. But it was so clear, it was, but it can't be. _Sasuke regained control of himself, moving so Naruto wouldn't notice him if he decided to look outside. He concentrated once more, listening for the obnoxious, yet sincere voice he'd heard so many times before.

"Okay, listen to your big sister, Naruto-,"

"Naruko, you're using every chance you get to say big sister, aren't you?" A voice replied, this one more distant. This voice wasn't very deep, but it belonged to a male and was extremely serene.

"Of course dad!" Naruko exclaimed. "Gee, neh Naruto, you know if you ever need help go to dad. You see dad will help you, now don't get me wrong mom will always help out too, but dad is much more composed and his solution will definitely be much safer than mom's. Whereas mom's idea will definitely be much more fun, but much more dangerous. And depending on the kind of problem dad won't threaten to cut your head off afterwards."

Sasuke glanced into the house, from where he was he could only see into the kitchen. He stealthily snuck around the house, stopping as he could finally see into the living room. He could see Naruto sitting on the couch and on the TV screen in front of him was a girl. She looked very similar to Naruto. Her long, golden blonde hair, with slight curls scattered throughout her pigtails, the blonde locks reaching just past the middle of her back. Her eyes a deep, gorgeous violet, similar to, as Sasuke knew, her mother's eyes. Like Naruto she had three whisker-like marks on both cheeks. He smiled slightly, _I remember. Naruko use to always make small videos. About her family, about vampire hunting, her life, everything. All to give to Naruto one day. So she could help her little brother out. She didn't know she'd die, but she knew that she may not be around a lot cause of out of state, or even out of country jobs. She wanted to be the one to teach Naruto about vampire-hunting, she wanted to give him advice about family, friends, girls, school, everything. She started as soon as her family learned of the pregnancy. _Sasuke slightly frowned, _if memory serves me right she forced me in a few. Now I really need to make sure he doesn't see me or things could go bad. _Sasuke was brought from his thoughts by a piercing gaze at his back. He slightly turned seeing a short woman with long curly brown hair and brown eyes.

"Yes?" Sasuke asked irritated as the girl said nothing. Then Sasuke realized what she was probably staring at. He was a stranger, standing in front of the house peering in at the inhabitants, through the window. He was lucky no one called the cops yet. "Oh, I'm close with the owners. They left their son home alone and wanted me to check in on him every once in a while. But they don't want him to think they don't trust him so I have to be discreet. I apologize for any inconvenience." Sasuke said sending a charming glare at the woman. Watching her nearly melt under his gaze.

"S-sorry!" She exclaimed blushing, turning and quickly walking away, holding her red face.

_Annoying_, Sasuke thought as he walked to the back of the house, where no one would see. Pushing as close to the wall as he could, listening to the voice he refused to admit he missed.

"Now, like I said. Mom is definitely who you wanna go to when you want to have some fun, dad is much more serious but he's still really carefree. He'll go along with anything but mom will have an idea of what to do. We're always doing crazy, stupid things off of mom's ideas but it's always really fun, and we always do something together whether it be camping or vampire hunting. I remember once we all went over to Jiraiya's for the weekend. And mom is always at Jiraiya's throat, because he's such a pervert, and once time mom, dad and I erased every single thing he had related to porn on his computer from his writings, to videos and what not. Of course we backed it all up on a disk but when he realized it was all gone he wasn't even mad he was just frozen, I swear we saw his soul beginning to fly away. It was so hilarious. Don't worry though we got a few good pranks to do with you Naruto. One time, when Iruka was watching you, we snuck into the house and took you, then we cut the lines and what not so Iruka couldn't call the police. He freaked, though it was funny we did feel bad, he had been so scared. Of course we've taken our pranks too far, if you are in that kinda situation Naruto make sure to apologize and mean it. We even lay off pranking them for a bit, just so they know we are honestly sorry. Even more if you're in the middle of a prank and things are going bad or you're taking it too far stop immediately and reveal yourself, apologize. No prank or whatever you're doing is worth losing a friendship or whatever else it is. Mom's the more mischievous one, but you never wanna make her mad, which is sadly enough, pretty easy. If you make mom mad run to dad, he can relatively calm her, okay no he really can't but it's safer to use him as a shield than run away." Naruko continued on, laughing repeatedly as she spoke.

"Mom will catch you if you run." Naruto finished. Sasuke froze, had Naruto memorized everything Naruko had said, just how many times had he watched these videos? "Uhn, nu, gugh," Sasuke listened to the muffled cries. The raven cast a solemn glance at the floor realizing how much this impacted Naruto. _Naruto's never met his parents or Naruko has he? No wonder he'd watch this specific one so much he'd memorized the words, it seems to center on his family. _Sasuke grabbed his neck, rubbing it slightly. How much did he want to run in there and console the poor boy, no matter how un-Uchiha like it was? He really didn't care, he felt his heart constrict as the boy cried louder. Sasuke gave a deep breath, _what the hell is wrong with me? It's none of my concern. Sure I knew Naruko, sure we were paired together when we were sent on missions out of Konoha but that doesn't mean I gotta watch over Naruto like he's **my** brother. _Sasuke slightly shook his head, fiercely clenching his eyes and retreating into the forest.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke peered over as Naruto left the house, heading into the forest. Looking up Sasuke could see they still had at least 30 minutes until night hit. He forced himself to stand on the tree, watching the blonde skillfully swing a sword in his hand. The raven smirked, how long had it been since he last held a sword. Jumping back, Sasuke retreated deeper into the forest so Naruto wouldn't sense him. Swinging the sword, Naruto harshly hit a nearby tree. Swiftly and skillfully moving along the trees striking each as he moved, as if he was taking on several enemies. He stabbed one, moved to the next, ducked and hit the nearest again, spinning and moving to the next. _He's definitely fast, if he was fighting vampires those hits would be lethal, if aimed at the right spots of course. His moves are unpredictable yes, but he moves with his own style, can't say it's not effective but he concentrates on hitting his target. The way he moves takes no account to defending and even more if he had multiple enemies and they're all moving it'll throw his entire attack into disarray. _Sasuke nearly fell off the tree as a hand grasped his shoulder. He swiftly turned, his eyes turning red and his teeth elongating. His target, quickly dodged causing Sasuke to hit the tree with such force he dented it.

"I didn't mean to surprise you," The voice exclaimed. Sasuke looked down seeing Iruka, "You must have really been out of it, had you not even sensed me."

"I was watching Naruto practice with his sword," Sasuke replied his eyes returning to their original onyx color and his teeth losing their fangs.

"He's skillful, no?" Iruka asked.

"Hn. He's reckless and his attacks are completely unplanned, it's dangerous, were he in an actual fight. Weren't you out with Kakashi?"

"It's already been a couple of hours you know, I don't like leaving Naruto alone." Iruka looked at Sasuke, getting no reply, he continued, "This is the first time I've seen you since you've been back. Kakashi was right you haven't changed." Sasuke sent a glare at Iruka, who gave a small laugh, then solemnly looked down before continuing, "I was worried about what would happen to you after Naruko's death."

"Why is everyone so worried about me? Sure Naruko and I worked together, that was it though. I don't have friends, I don't want friends, and even if she had a crush on me I'd never look at her like that. We were simply work partners and I wish everyone would just shut up about it." Sasuke said struggling to keep his voice level and not yell.

"Okay, I'm sorry Sasuke. I shouldn't say anything when I only have Kakashi's word for it," Iruka stopped, oops.

_So that bastard is talking about me to everyone, _Sasuke scowled. "So Naruto has no powers?" Sasuke asked changing the subject.

"Not really, but he has the whisker's like his sister."

"Hn."

"We haven't talked in over 150 years and you're still as quiet as always. You didn't even come to the funeral."

"I came, just not during the funeral."

"I know, Kakashi told me he met you afterwards."

"Would you stop bringing it up, I'm fine, you're as bad as Kakashi. Worse, because I know you're worried about something that you don't need to worry about." Sasuke glared slightly, trying to restrain himself knowing Iruka's worry was well-placed but still unnecessary.

"You're right. I'm sorry. How's your training been, well if you had any," Sasuke smirked,

"Well my persuasion and illusions have both gotten much better, almost to the level of Itachi and my elemental powers have advanced as well, and you?"

"I'm turned, remember?" Sasuke glanced at Iruka, unsure of what to say next.

"Shouldn't you return to Naruto now?" Sasuke asked glaring at Iruka.

"Probably, I'm glad we finally got to talk even if it wasn't much. And thank you Sasuke, for watching Naruto. I truly appreciate it."

"Hn." Sasuke mumbled but gave Iruka an amused glare and small smirk. "You're welcome."

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Fav, follow, review and whatever else~ Excuse bad grammar please. The next chapter might take a bit, I still haven't done my summer homework and I return in like a week :/ but it won't take longer than a week for the next chapter so no worries.


	4. Chapter 3

**I'm only gonna do fluff for all shipping's except SasuNaru unless directly asked to add a lemon moment for a shipping which will most likely be added in a small omake**. SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaa, KyuuIta, ShikaTema, KibaHina, Light HashiMada.

There will be P.O.V. changes signified by the break shown below.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Blah" Talking

'_Blah_' Thinking

I went back and changed a few things. It was mentioned beforehand how Iruka controlled water and Naruto's family had powers dealing with water and wind, both of these parts were erased.

**Warning: Naruto gets drugged in this chapter ;D and Sasuke enjoys some gore filled fun (He's also given a slight sadistic nature in the fight, which was honestly, completely accidental.)**

From here on I'll be updating Guardian Demon weekly, on Saturday. Now onto the story.

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_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Stop being such a loser Naruto." Naruto turned to the pink-haired damsel. Her large green eyes glaring holes at the blonde. Naruto looked at his friend Sakura, she was a fair-skinned girl with an abnormally large forehead.

"I just don't care for going to clubs." Naruto replied, slightly shrugging.

"Even with the fact, the nearest club from your house is just down the street," Sakura pouted.

"Seriously Sakura stop pushing him, we both know what happens at clubs," Kiba replied to her, giving her an ominous glance then continuing, "Drugs, alcohol and what not. Nothing little Naruto needs to be exposed to." Kiba carried on jokingly.

"Excuse me?" Naruto questioned, shooting a glare to Kiba.

"I didn't mean anything bad by it, I was just saying," Kiba shrugged.

"Fine, I'll go." Naruto growled slamming his textbook shut and beginning to leave the classroom.

"Its club Chidori," Sakura triumphantly smirked.

"Got it." Naruto called back, leaving the room.

"Thanks for the help," Sakura smiled, slightly glancing at Kiba. He scowled at her,

"That was not what I meant to do."

Sakura slightly chuckled, "Well whatever you were trying to do doesn't seem to have gone well."

"Shut up," Kiba cursed, angrily pulling a chair out as he took a seat. "Since this is your idea you better keep an eye on him."

"Of course," Sakura replied with a shrug as she turned away.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"I didn't want to come either Naruto, but since we're here at least try to enjoy yourself," Naruto glanced over at his red-headed friend. He had pale blue-green eyes and fair skin. He had no eyebrows with a strange tattoo above his left eye, the Japanese word for love. He was a rather handsome man, though short for his age.

"Why'd you even come Gaara, I thought you hated this type of stuff?" Naruto asked. Gaara clenched his fist, using his thumb to point to the corner of the room. Naruto followed the direction Gaara pointed seeing Gaara's sister, Temari, and Shikamaru. Temari was fair-skinned like her brothers. Her dirty-blonde hair was pulled into two pigtails, the hair spiking out. She was a rather beautiful girl in Naruto's opinion. Not drop-dead gorgeous but still pleasing to the eye. "What exactly do you plan on seeing?" Naruto joked, shooting a mischievous glance at Gaara.

"If that little prick touches my sister-,"

"I'd rather not be an accessory to whatever you're planning," Naruto interjected, raising his hand to stop Gaara,

"Good choice." Gaara replied with a smirk,

"Imma get a drink," Naruto smiled heading to the bar, from their friends table. He stopped at the bar signaling the bartender over,

"A beer please."

"Sure," The bartender replied getting the beer. Naruto leaned against the bar as he opened the bottle, glancing over at Shikamaru and Temari with a smile, they were obviously flirting but they weren't touching at all. They leaned into each other as they drunk away their cocktails. Staying a hair's breadth away. Naruto tried not to laugh, they weren't touching so Gaara couldn't do anything.

"Smart-asses," Naruto smirked, taking another sip and joining Kiba, Sakura, Kankuro, Lee, Chouji, Tenten and Ino on the dance floor. Tenten was a tall Chinese girl, with brown hair pulled into two buns and light brown eyes. Then Ino was a skinny, average heighted, fair-skinned girl with long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail with two clips holding her loose hair at the left, her bangs pushed to the right. She had light blue eyes that were rather beautiful. Naruto playfully jumped into the middle of their circle dancing alongside them.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto looked at the girl who had pulled him away from the others, she was very beautiful. Her skin was pale, her frame delicate and small. She had curly, chocolate-brown hair framing her sharp features and sea-green eyes. Naruto allowed himself to be dragged back to the bar. She called over to the bartender, "Two vodka martinis," The girl called. He nodded preparing the drinks.

"Now you can't expect me to let the lady pay," Naruto smirked.

"How about for a special occasion?" The girl leered.

"Oh and what would this 'special occasion' be?" Naruto asked.

"Our meeting,"

"Hmm, fine half."

"I can deal with that," She shrugged. Naruto smiled pulling out his money. Leaning his elbows onto the counter, he dropped his head back and closed his eyes. The girl smiled pulling a small baggie from her purse, keeping a sharp eye on Naruto as she poured a powder into his martini. She slightly sloshed the drink and brushed the bottom of the wine glass against Naruto's arm. He opened his eyes glancing at her and smiling as he grabbed the drink and raising the glass to her, he took a sip.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto rubbed his head once more, he hadn't drunken nearly enough to make him feel this drunk. Something was wrong here, he shook his head again, clenching his eyes. Maybe he should get to Kiba and the others then go home. Naruto looked at the crowd of people in front of him, he caught a small flicker of Kiba's familiar red tattoos but everything was so blurry it was gone soon after. "Fresh air," Naruto mumbled, wobbling towards the door. He felt a hand on his wrist, lightly willing him to follow. He followed the form, struggling to see whoever it was leading him forward. He saw traces of brown hair, how many people did he know with brown hair there. He shook his head, deciding to accept the help and breathed a sigh of relief as he exited the club. The pulsing music still radiating throughout the front of the club. He took in a deep breath, being pulled away once again, this time with much more force than before. He was pulled to the left, then once again forced to turn left. Naruto looked around, the smell telling him they were near a trash can, probably moving down an alley. Realizing he was probably in some serious danger, he began struggling to pull his arm from his captor's grasp. His strength was all but gone however, and he could only manage a light tug. He felt his body turn, but by now he couldn't be sure it actually happened, with how dizzy he was. He felt his back push against something, but his nerves were so numb he couldn't be sure. He felt a pain on his neck, but he was so relaxed the pain was almost nonexistent, then everything went black.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke held his temples, resisting the urge to run at the idiotic blonde. _Okay I dealt with the fact he walked home alone on a quiet night with no protection. But just how fucking, mind-blowingly stupid do you have to be to go to a club, a vampire's hunting ground, in the middle of the night. Even more, how completely idiotic do you have to be to let the future Hokage go to a club, when he's under your protection. What kind of jokers did they find to watch this boy? How is he even still alive?_ Resisting the urge to strangle someone, Sasuke sat back on the building rooftop, where he was watching over the club. He raised an eyebrow as he saw a girl dragging Naruto from the club. _Hmm, that's interesting. I pegged him the type to attract guy's more than girls. Though he is pretty attractive but still-, _Sasuke caught his thoughts, slightly shaking his head, wishing the thoughts away. Sasuke looked back at the two, it was really hard to watch over Naruto in this kind of atmosphere. The piercing sounds making his ears throb, strong alcohol that made his nose burn, not to mention the large numbers of vampires misdirecting his sensing ability.

He watched the woman turn Naruto into an alley. Hiding him behind a large industrial trash bin. Sasuke stared forward, _do I really, really, want to move and watch them make out in an alley. _Sasuke gave a small growl disappearing in a flash. He appeared next to Naruto and the girl, the girl having Naruto pushed against the wall her elongated teeth sunk into the flesh on his neck. She immediately moved away as Sasuke appeared. Naruto collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

"Sometimes I forget just how good a hunter's blood is," Sasuke spoke as two men appeared behind him. He casually looked back, "And in come the groupies." Sasuke stared at the two men, they looked like brothers. Both had pale skin with blonde hair. One having his hair pushed to the side and blue eyes, the other's hair shorter and slightly spiked up with green eyes.

"You dare disturb my hunting!" The girl hissed, her eyes still red and her teeth like a sharks.

"You're no longer newborns, you should know the consequences of going after a hunter," Sasuke simply said.

"Some hunter, one of my easiest catches," The girl hissed amusingly. _He's even supposed to be a fucking Hokage! _Sasuke thought, not willing to admit he agreed with the girl one-hundred percent.

"Hn."

"Fine then, think you can take all three of us, oh great hunter?" The girl teased. A small smirk came to Sasuke's mouth as his eyes and teeth changed to match the girls.

"Let's see," Sasuke replied. The girl hissed lunging at him, a fierce punch aimed for his head. With ease he moved his head to the side, just enough so her punch missed. Calmly, he crouched as the blue-eyed boy sent a fierce hit to his neck, just narrowly missing him, the raven gracefully moved away from the two at vampire speed. The third appearing in his path, moving at inhuman speeds, but when compared to Sasuke he moved as fast as any other human. The three watched, shocked, without even trying Sasuke had already shown the trio the large difference in skill. The boy with green eyes spun bringing his elbow back harshly, aiming for Sasuke's neck. Sasuke jumped away, slowing his pace in hopes of making the fight more exciting for himself. The girl jumped, moving to tackle him as he landed, quicker than she could move he was already out of her range. The last of the trio appearing behind the raven and this time moving recklessly, only trying to somehow grab their opponent. Once again Sasuke was out of range before the blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy could even comprehend what happened, when the three looked again Sasuke was nonchalantly sitting on the garbage bin. "Not much of a fight then? Hn." Sasuke mumbled looking around. "Granted you got vampire killing 101 down. The only weak points are the head, neck and heart." Sasuke smirked grabbing a plastic fork from the trash. "This'll have to work," He mumbled jumping from the trash can, a twisted glare adorning his features as he looked at the three. He flicked the fork forwards, out of his hand, and disappeared himself. When he appeared again he was holding his hand out, clenching his fist and grabbing the fork out of the air, then he looked back. He had run from the garbage can and was now standing behind the blonde-haired, green-eyed brother. Everything was frozen for a second before the vampire finally fell to his knees, blood dripping down his neck. He fell forward turning to ash as he hit the ground. Sasuke smirked as the first drop of blood began trailing off the fork he was grasping, down his hand and finally dripped off of his hand.

"Uri-," Sasuke began hearing the other two screaming for their fallen comrade. As he looked up the world had slowed as Sasuke's sight mixed with his overwhelming speed, making time seem to have all but stopped. He appeared behind the second brother and with a quick flick of the wrist he ran his hand, and the fork in his grasp, through the vampire's heart. Once he cleared the man's body he released the fork, as he did, it shot forward stabbing through the girl's head. Sasuke allowed his sight to weaken once more, as time returned to normal and the first drops of blood that had dripped from the fork after he had defeated the first of the group finally crashed onto the alley floor. The blue-eyed boy and girl simultaneously turning to ash.

Sasuke reached down grabbing Naruto's jacket for the night, an orange cloth, zip-up jacket, with a round swirl on the back. Pulling it off the boy, the raven ripped the jacket in half. Using one half of it to wipe the blood off of his arm. Then wrapping the second half around Naruto's neck, trying to stop the bleeding. He resisted the urge to take a small taste himself, pulling the boy into his arms. By now the vampires and hunters in Naruto's group had most likely sensed him so he wouldn't have to worry about them. _Now what?_ Sasuke thought, _I should probably take him home. _Sasuke jumped from the alley onto a nearby club rooftop.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"He's fine, just a bit of blood loss," Tsunade said as she went downstairs. Sasuke looked around the house, it was rather homey looking. It was slightly crowded with all the furniture pushed together in the small house. The inside being smaller than it appeared outside, though it seemed very comfortable. "There's no danger to his life, now then." Tsunade said turning to Sasuke. The boy lying on the couch to the right wall, waiting for the inevitable.

"What the hell were you doing!?" Iruka yelled.

"I thought his friends would be able to watch over him, so I didn't take the job seriously."

"Don't blame us! We hired you for this, so this wouldn't happen!" Tsunade exclaimed.

"And I did what I thought was best. The fact that he was hurt shows how careless not only Naruto is but the other protectors. I saved him, didn't I? He's not dead so I did my job."

"He's still hurt! What if he had been killed, what if something happened and he had died?" Iruka yelled, "You're supposed to keep an eye on him, protect him!"

"He didn't die though, I'll admit it was a little careless of me but could you have sensed something was wrong in an atmosphere like that, Iruka?" Sasuke asked glaring at the caretaker. Iruka slightly flinched under the glare, knowing the raven was right. Tsunade sighed, there was no point anymore,

"We can't do anything anymore, still, welcome back, Uchiha. It's been a while, did you have a good vacation?" Tsunade said.

Sasuke shrugged, "Till it was interrupted."

Tsunade gave a small smile, "Still a complete ass I see."

"What about you Ms. Hokage? Is it just me or is there an uncanny amount of newborns and vampires in town."

"You're right, we don't know why either. Since you've been gone, you obviously know of the major stuff, the Uzumaki-Namikaze's and what not. How'd you hear about my becoming Hokage?"

"Well you're the last of the Senju's, it was obvious really."

"But you never knew about Naruto?"

"Naruko and I never met in the nine months her mother was pregnant and I never returned after the funeral, I didn't really have a chance to meet the boy."

"True, my job's been going well actually. A lot of the younger hunters and vampires are very admirable and strong. Most of the ones you've seen have a bloodline ability. Most have awoken them as well. Granted they can't compare to the older members in our association but it's definitely a good generation."

"Not from what I've seen."

"They're young Sasuke, they aren't anticipating an attack every second of everyday,"

"Well you need to teach them to. At least you need to teach Naruto. His sensing ability is extremely weak."

"Well he hasn't awoken his bloodline ability yet, his powers are still rather weak but he's a strong fighter."

"Hn." Sasuke replied sitting up.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto was frozen, he was so cold. His eyes fluttered slightly, he could see something in front of him, and though he was dizzy it was oddly clear. He saw a tall man, beautiful, graceful, he moved quickly with great elegance. However there was blood, Naruto could make out others. Though they weren't as clear as the raven-haired man. The crimson red made the man's black hair and onyx eyes pop, Naruto followed the man's movements for a second, frozen in awe before once again falling unconscious.

Naruto awoke again, his right cheek pushed against a black cloth. He was pretty sure he was on his back, he felt a slight pressure moving horizontally along the middle of his back and in the crooks of his legs. He hesitantly moved his left hand, grasping the cloth. Whatever his head was pushed against it wasn't soft, actually it was rather hard, still it was extremely comfortable. The smell of mint and a spice, he couldn't discern what it was but it smelt amazing and thought the combination was odd the smell was almost . . . alluring. Naruto lightly pushed his head into the soft fabric, using his hand to grasp the fabric harshly, indulging in the overwhelming scent. He nuzzled it softly, his eyes trailing up the fabric catching a pale color. Curious he looked up, seeing what he believed to be a face. Black hair and eyes, pale skin. Naruto couldn't tell much about the figure, he hadn't realized how weak his own sight was until everything went black again.

Naruto jumped up in bed, nearly falling back from the harsh movement. Naruto moaned rubbing his head. "What happened?" Naruto mumbled, he couldn't remember anything. He wanted something, to see something, when he woke up there was a figure, a smell, a . . . what was it again? Naruto rubbed his head, he couldn't remember. He went with the others to Chidori, he danced with them, he drunk, Gaara threatening Shikamaru, and a girl, they danced, they talked, then he wanted to get to Kiba and then what? He was home, did he get a cab or did someone else? He rubbed his forehead, what was this enticing scent? He stumbled to his feet, grasping the nearest wall to keep from falling. He was light-headed and he could hear yelling downstairs, but his mind was so unorganized he barely even understood what was being said. He leaned against the wall, the top floor was a small hall, Iruka's room and the bathroom at the back-end of the hall. Diagonal to Naruto's room, on the right of the hall were the stairs. He stumbled to the stairs, grasping the railing as he pushed himself downstairs, he slightly stumbled sliding down a few of the stairs. He caught himself again looking to the right, across the living room. Sitting on the couch, pushed against the right wall, was a man. Naruto stared, frozen, releasing the stair railing, his only thought was the gorgeous man. The man turned to him, onyx meeting cerulean, and both men were frozen in place.

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Fav, follow, review. I think this is my longest chapter so far. Yay! Anyway tell me what you think and thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 4

Okay no more repeating, disclaimer, ships, reason for rating all in previous chapters but ask me if I need to explain something and I will bring it up.

Anyway, geez Saturday came fast. I've been drowning in Summer Homework this week. I go back Monday *cries in corner* and only finished one of my five assignments, ooops. Well this is actually a bit early cause I have a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow *Cries harder as I hug a book of yaoi*

I was hoping to have finished planning now so I could give a chapter estimate but doesn't look like it's gonna happen. Right now I have a rough 25 chapters planned. 21 of them completely planned but they aren't written yet haha. Actually I'm just writing each chapter throughout the week so none of them are written. (Not true I write them at the very last minute on Friday night, Saturday morning)

So yeah in the previous chapter Naruto went to a bar, got drugged, was about to be eaten, knight in shining armor Sasuke with a sadistic side, he was saved, they returned to Naruto's home where they called Tsunade and she treated him. Sasuke was being yelled at by Tsunade and Iruka when Naru-chan woke up. He remember being carried in Sasukes arms, an intoxicating scent *~* and when he goes downstairs his very own prince charming is in front of him~ I know I left the last chapter on a cliffy, didn't I?

**Warning: Sexual Themes, nothing bad yet, just the jokes~**

The beginning doesn't really have a specific P.O.V though you can guess for the most part it's Narutos.

Anyway, this chapter is really light hearted, I personally really enjoyed writing it, well onto the story dearies.

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Naruto stared at the man, overtaken with awe and completely captivated by him.

Sasuke stared at the man, overtaken with fear and shock, Tsunade and Iruka quickly caught his glare turning and seeing the frozen blonde, just standing on the stairs.

"W-well, that's enough for today!" Iruka exclaimed grabbing Sasuke's arm and yanking him off the couch, "I'll contact you later!" Iruka exclaimed forcing Sasuke outside, as soon as he was gone Naruto released a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding, he was literally knocked breathless by the man's beauty. It wasn't a humans beauty was it? Suddenly a feeling of disgust overcame him, it couldn't have been a natural beauty, could it?

"Who was tha-," Naruto was cut off by Iruka's ramblings,

"Oh, would you look at the time, hahaha, busy, busy, busy, come on Naruto let's get you to bed!" Iruka exclaimed over Naruto's attempts at questioning the others. Naruto looked back at the door, _it couldn't have been natural but at the same time Iruka would never let a vampire in knowing my hatred, so it had to be human, right?_ Naruto's hopes began wavering the more he thought about it. "So why are you up?" Iruka exclaimed continuing his nervous laughter,

"Th-thirsty, that's it." Naruto stuttered uncomfortably staring back at Tsunade who seemed deep in thought. His interest had been piqued, that was that.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"I hate Mondays!" Kiba yelled lazily as he walked through the school gates, his bag hanging on his shoulder sloppily.

"Who doesn't?" Naruto asked with a yawn.

"People who don't have to go to school."

"Then they're at work." Naruto replied, his attention on the clouds.

"People who don't have school or work."

"Then they're in diapers, ah hey guys!" Naruto called noticing his friends Gaara, Temari, Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru and Lee sitting at a table near the front door of the school building. The school was like any other school. Large, their school having 5 floors, it was a white building in the shape of a rectangular prism.

Kiba watched suspiciously as his friend ran towards the table, then just shrugged ignoring the distant behavior. It was probably just Monday Morning fever.

"Hey Naruto!" Ino called enthusiastically.

"So how was everyone's weekend?" Naruto asked, jumping into the nearest seat as he leaned on the table.

"Good, well mine was." Sakura beamed.

"Oh Gaara, I guess you didn't get to beat up Shikamaru." Naruto joked noticing an absence of bruises and cuts on Shikamaru, the red-head shrugging slightly, seemingly uninterested.

"Oh yeah Naruto, you and that lady left for a youthful rendezvous correct?" Lee smiled. Naruto noticed the others all visibly stiffen. Thought writing it off as simply a cold breeze passing,

"Good question I can't remember, all I remember is waking up at home. No, that's wrong, what I remember was this really hot guy. No not even hot, breathtaking, gorgeous, beautiful, all words that describe beauty. Like, man this guy was so-." Naruto spoke, looking off in a daze.

"Erotic?" Sakura questioned raising a slight eyebrow, the word catching Naruto off guard as he glanced at his friend.

"Wha?! What do you mean?"

"Your little friend looks ready to pop." Sakura smiled pointing down. Naruto turned as red as Sakura's overpriced nail polish, he quickly used his hands to cover his crouch before realizing he was being played and wasn't even hard.

"Naruto," Kiba said placing his hands on Naruto's shoulder and turning the blonde to face him, "I have a very important question to ask, now know no matter how you answer I don't judge. Are you gay?" Naruto's face glowed red,

"N-no!" He exclaimed pushing Kiba away. He turned back to the table as his embarrassment settled finally saying, "Just because I'm straight it doesn't mean I can't admire another man's beauty."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Who missed me!?" The voice echoed throughout the young Uchiha's office, sending his temper flaring though he calmly looked up, sending a bone-chilling glare at the voice's owner.

"Suigetsu," Sasuke fumed as he silently stood up in his chair, resisting the urge to punch his fellow vampire. "I have a secretary for a reason." Sasuke scowled.

"Aww, we haven't seen each other in so long Sasu-chan." Sasuke glared holes at the boy. Suigetsu moved away from his glare with a,

"Whoop." He smiled as he stood again, as if he had just avoided the metaphorical lasers threatening to penetrate him. "Sour as always aren't we?" Suigetsu smiled jumping on the couches arm. He was an average-height man with a slim figure. His white haired reaching just above his shoulder, as his hair was cut in layers. His violet eyes seemingly glowing against his warm skin. A single fang slightly poking out of his mouth, Suigetsu was a turned vampire and during the transformation it seems there was a problem which permanently gave him vampire teeth though not as prominent as any other vampire who naturally changed forms. "So how was your vacation?" Suigetsu asked, stars in his eyes, illuminating the man's interest.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, "Geez, I've been back for what, a month now, and now you say something. Where have you been anyway, you and Karin? Granted I'm not complaining."

Suigetsu released another large laugh before speaking, "Ah, Karin's just with her family outta town, don't worry too much. She'll be right back when she hears you finally returned and little old me was just outta the loop." Suigetsu growled the last part then continued on in a smooth voice, "Now speak up, you've been gone for what, 200, 300 years. It had to be fun, what'd you do!"

"Hn, I just went around the world a bit. The Land of Lightning, Earth, Snow, the big places mostly. Lived here and there for a couple years and moved to the next country before anyone got suspicious, that was all there was to it."

"Oh? How about a mate? How about a hobby? How about a job? Come on there's gotta be something interesting, oh, did you know that Kakashi is mated to some Iruka dude?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I guessed as much, I've seen them both enough in the last few days."

"So, so?! Any mates, hobbies, jobs, give me something here."

"No mates, I guess poetry is something new and job wise, I haven't really needed one, though I did work with some shinobi in Otogakure."

"Really?" Suigetsu asked with a disturbed cringe.

"Hn." Sasuke replied with a slight nod as he poured himself some coffee.

"Why Otogakure? Seriously, that place." Suigetsu spat the name. Sasuke ignored his friend and headed to the couch, "Ah, thank you," Suigetsu said reaching for the coffee. Sasuke moved the coffee away from his friends grasp, taking a sip and sitting on the couch. "And why'd I expect anything more." Suigetsu sighed getting up and getting himself some coffee. "Anything else I should know?"

"You shouldn't know any of this but it's a nice break from work." Sasuke nonchalantly replied.

"Yeah, yeah." Suigetsu mumbled returning to the couch.

"If a single drop of that gets onto my couch." Sasuke warned, glaring at Suigetsu. He put his hand up as he took a seat,

"Understood. But really, 200 years and that's all you got for me?"

"Hn." Sasuke replied sipping his coffee.

"Uhm, where'd you go?"

"I spent the most time in The Land of Lightning, went to The Land of Water for a bit, The Land of Wind, The Land of the Sky, there wasn't much to do."

"Okay well how about people, who'd you meet?"

"No one of interest."

"What the hell were you doing those two hundred years?" Suigetsu exclaimed, throwing his hands up, having forgot he was holding the coffee and pouring the liquid all over Sasuke. He blinked slightly, withholding the urge to laugh, swallowing the urge when he saw Sasuke's glare and felt his life flash before his eyes.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Hey Naruto?" Iruka called as the boy entered the house, having returned from school.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked slipping into the kitchen, where Iruka sat, tense and distant.

"H-how much of the conversation did you hear? I mean this weekend after you got back?"

"Hmm? Not much. I was so out of it I couldn't even register words. Why? And could you tell me what happened during my memory gap I really can't remember anything." _And what could I have even overheard I wonder_. Naruto thought to himself.

"Nothing much, you called asking me to pick you up. You just had a bit much to drink that's all." Iruka smiled, it hurt him to lie to Naruto.

"Then why didn't I have a hangover? I mean I was tipsy but it wasn't characteristic of being drunk. I didn't even drink much."

"I don't know," Iruka replied, "You probably didn't realize."

"Why was Tsunade here and what about that other guy? My neck is sore, but there's no mark or anything, I don't think I slept weird either, when Tsunade heals something it's often sore as a side effect, was I attacked?"

"It's nothing Naruto." Iruka said standing up, he had to leave, now.

"If it's nothing then why were they here? Why is everything so fuzzy? Why can't I remember anything? I know you know something Iruka! Tell me."

"Listen Naruto it's just council stuff okay, it's nothing important. That's why Tsunade and the guy were here and you just drunk too much." Iruka shooed the boy as he left the room. He couldn't exactly tell Naruto the truth not only would he hate vampires that much more but how was he supposed to say they had commissioned a vampire to stalk him. Iruka ran a hand through his hair, they wouldn't be so worried about Naruto and Sasuke meeting if it weren't for Naruko's videos. As soon as Naruto recognizes Sasuke everything they've done to protect Naruto could fall apart.

Naruto stomped upstairs, he was the future Hokage, what right did any of them have to hide things from him? Naruto sighed, he shouldn't be angry at Iruka, or Tsunade for that matter. He'd just be angry at the handsome stranger, who had been stuck in his head all day. Naruto smiled to himself slightly searching through a box of DVR tapes. He pulled one out that had white duct tape on the front with the word, Godparents, on it. He stuffed the tape into the player and sat back watching as the familiar face of his sister came to screen.

"Okay Naruto today were talking about Obaa-chan and the pervy gramps. So if something happens to our family, which I doubt it will, Tsunade takes the name of Hokage. She's the granddaughter of the first Hokage so she's kind of a big deal, meh. She has a gambling problem, and a drinking problem. and a money problem and-, you know what moving on, she's quick tempered but caring. Then Jiraiya, he's got a mole problem, and a woman problem, and a nosebleed problem but there's usually a cause for that. He's got great hair but he's not around a lot, he likes traveling and working on his stories, protect your innocence my sweet otouto and stay away from him and those stories!" Naruto slightly smiled as he watched it, way too late for that, he was only 9 when he first saw the books, to which Jiraiya willingly gave him and after that he was never the same.

* * *

Obaa-chan- Grandma

Otouto- Little brother.

A little information on Jiraiya and Tsunade~ Well fav, follow, review or whatever else. Thanks I appreciate feedback more than you know *~*

I don't know why but when I was writing Iruka and Naruto little 20 questions thing I was thinking of Elsa and Anna when they were fighting at the ball, before Elsa froze everything.

This is my shortest chapter behind the prologue :( Well I enjoyed writing it and it's more of a transition chapter anyway.


	6. Chapter 5

Okay so here's the newest chapter. Geez this week has been hell. I still haven't been able to finished the planning, actually I've been so busy I haven't even been able to work on it.

So this chapter is pretty short actually. And like the last chapter it's mostly relaxing, conversation, that kinda thing but a lot of important topics are brought up, brushed upon more so than previously. And Naruto is unconsciously rejected :`( I think it ended up being love at first sight for Naru~chan. Though it wasn't intentional.

I'm pretty sure next week its gonna be a pretty short chapter and if it is as short as I think it is I might add two chapters instead of just one. If my chapters are less than 1000 words I'm gonna add more than one. However this chapter, the next few chapters is where the story will start picking up.

We also get to see an interesting side of Sasuke and Itachi appears!

* * *

"I'm heading to school Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called as he left the house, his backpack lazily hanging off his shoulder.

"Okay." Iruka called, slightly pulling his phone from his ear.

"Hmm? Who are you talking to?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, Kakashi."

"Anything important?" Naruto asked, watching Iruka carefully in hopes he would accidentally reveal something.

"Nothing important." Iruka called back.

"Come on." Naruto pushed.

"We're just talking about meeting up tonight." Iruka replied realizing Naruto wouldn't give up.

"To do what." Naruto scowled.

"Nothing." Iruka sighed.

"Oh, come on."

"A date." Iruka blushed, almost immediately becoming flustered.

"Oh," Naruto jumped back, disheartened and embarrassed, "I didn't need to know that!" Naruto called running out of the house.

"What was that?" Kakashi asked on the phone.

"Naruto." Iruka heaved, rubbing his forehead.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Kakashi flirtatiously asked over the phone.

"It was a cover up, don't you dare let your mind wander!" Iruka exclaimed embarrassed.

"Sure, anyway back to our conversation."

"Ah, yeah, well like I was saying we should probably take Sasuke off of Naruto watch. Naruto's seen him, so it could-,"

"Iruka you're over exaggerating. Naruko was always a big camera-girl however do you really think Sasuke would have ever let himself be filmed? And let's say he was, as long as Sasuke keeps him mouth shut about his connection to the Uzumaki-Namikaze family and his connection to their killers it'll be fine. I doubt Naruko mentioned much about Sasuke and as far as Naruko knew Sasuke was simply her partner, nothing more. You wanted everything related to Sasuke to be a secret, we listened as you were his guardian however if Naruto has yet to recognize Sasuke, we should be fine. For the most part Sasuke is hidden as well, he can still protect Naruto. Even in class the only Uchiha's really mentioned are Itachi and Madara and with the few times Sasuke is mentioned Naruto wouldn't know anything, he doesn't pay attention enough. Naruto doesn't even know Sasuke's name, you're fine. And if all else fails tell Naruto Sasuke's a vampire, he'll be pretty reluctant to interact with him anymore, let alone be in the same room."

"Don't say that!" Iruka exclaimed.

"Well you're more of his father so you should be fine when the topic arises."

"Kakashi!"

"What? I'm trying here." Kakashi replied.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Sir Uchiha." Sasuke put the receiver to his ear,

"Yes?" Sasuke replied.

"You have a phone call, from a man named Itachi." Sasuke loudly groaned, to the surprise of his secretary.

"Put him through." Sasuke replied leaning his chin on his hand. Sasuke waited for a moment.

"Hello dear otouto." Sasuke didn't say anything, waiting for the man to continue. "Geez, aren't we quiet."

"Hn." Sasuke replied.

"So I heard there was a mistake with your most recent charge my lovely. Are we losing our touch after so long? Hmmm? I heard we failed this mission." Itachi said jokingly.

"Che. That was Iruka and Tsunade's damn fault. They've taught the dobe nothing. I've never had such an ignorant charge."

"Well what do you expect as long as he's prejudice they can't have him realizing how many vampires are around him everyday."

"Well because of their own fears he's in danger constantly. It was only a matter of time before he got caught. I wonder how he's even survived this long."

"For the most part he was around someone."

"And what makes them so lenient about it now?"

"You're there."

"Why did they choose now for me to watch over him? I mean, I'm not complaining that they waited but still,"

"Sasuke, the Akatsuki are recruiting again, they plan on moving." Sasuke angrily clenched his teeth, gripping his hands harshly. "We, the council, have everything under control. We aren't being as careless as before. We've got their every movement under surveillance and are monitoring every member, every outside contact, every inside contact, we won't let them move alone again. I think you need to know however, you need to keep it a secret, Sasuke."

"Why are those bastards even still together, we defeated them, we annihilated them so why are they still?!" Sasuke exclaimed his voice progressively getting louder.

"You know why Sasuke. Their leader won't be so easy to capture, no matter how quick we got rid of their members. Besides you and I no one on the council, or even in the association, has knowingly seen their leader let alone caught him. This time we won't be careless, things won't go bad, we won't let it happen."

"You think I'm just gonna accept that." Sasuke yelled.

"You have to. Do your job and leave it alone." Itachi said with a voice that made Sasuke flinch slightly, "I didn't tell you just because I felt like it. I want you to be prepared if this turns into war again. Last time we were able to deal a quick and lethal annihilation however we've seen what could happen. I'm telling you to not let your feelings get ahead of you and to trust us. We've only told the Anbu, and the other council members of course." The Anbu was an elite force who specialized in taking out any of the association's enemies. A group of well-toned assassins basically.

"Che." Sasuke cursed under his breathe, "I trust those bastards about as much as I trust Akatsuki."

"Ouch."

"I'm telling Kakashi and Iruka, they're Naruto's caretakers it'd be better to tell them just in case."

Itachi was quiet for a second, "Keep it simple and safe, don't worry them."

"Hn. As soon as something happens tell me, if there's even a chance that something will change, I'm moving."

"If something happens we need you to care for Naruto. We did it without you once before, we should be fine this time."

"Bastard." Sasuke cursed.

"Hah, you're so cruel. Talking to your older brother like that." Itachi replied, his once serious tone almost immediately dispelling.

"Hn."

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Iruka?" Naruto hesitantly said as he entered the man's office, in his bedroom.

"Yeah?" Iruka asked, preoccupied as he went over work.

"I just wanted to ask about that man again. I'm curious about him."

"Haven't we dropped the subject?"

"But you can at least tell me about him?"

"No."

"Why not, it's not like he's a restricted subject, or is he, is he that important?" Naruto pushed.

"Would you stop already?" Iruka sighed looking over his work.

"But I'm curious. He's definitely important right? He was with Tsunade, and he was so attractive it was surprising."

"Would you please drop Sasuke?" Iruka replied paying little attention then stopped, _damn. _

Naruto smiled triumphantly, he knew the answer would slip if he pushed Iruka while he was working, "So his name's Sasuke!?" Naruto exclaimed. Iruka sighed disappointed, dropping his papers, well at least Naruto wasn't familiar with the name, and seriously what was Tsunade teaching these kids these days. "Is he a hunter, I mean he was with Tsunade so he must be right? And an important one at that, what has he done, who is he really, would I ever work with him!?" Naruto exclaimed. He thought about it for a while and a filthy bloodsucker wouldn't be with someone who's so important within the Hunter's Association.

"If I told you what would you even plan on doing with the information?"

"Well, get to know him, become his friend."

"You don't even know him." Iruka replied.

"I know, that's why I want to get to know him."

"But WHY do you want to get to know him?"

"To be his friend, I already said that."

"Why do you want to become his friend?" Iruka rephrased.

"Well, he seems cool. And it couldn't hurt to get to know the people I'll be working with when I take on the name of Hokage."

Iruka measured up the boy, he wasn't giving in anytime soon. He couldn't believe he was going to take Kakashi's advice, even more so he knew it was gonna come back to him, "Sasuke's one of the strongest people within the association. He's at the same level as the council members actually," Iruka explained, "A very strong and admirable vampire." Naruto's smile dropped.

"Che. Never mind, forget it." Naruto cursed leaving the room. Iruka sighed, as expected, he hadn't grown much had he.

_Damn teme. No wonder he's so beautiful, as I thought, he's a leech. But why would Tsunade hang out with such a low-life. Che. _Naruto loudly cursed holding his stomach as he collapsed on the bed. _Why do I feel so uncomfortable? My stomach hurts, my chest too. I feel sick._ Naruto sat up in bed shaking his head slightly, "I'm gonna head to Kiba's." Naruto said to himself sitting up in bed.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Sasuke?" Iruka said as he heard the phone pick up.

"Hn?"

"Naruto's heading to his friends, Kiba's, can you watch him?"

"What's this, I thought everything was ruined when Naruto saw me."

"He didn't recognize you, I even told him your name and he was completely ignorant. As long as he doesn't know anything about you it's fine."

"As long as he doesn't know my past, my job, my secrets, me, it's fine right?"

"Don't take it like that Sasuke. You're just connected to too much that we just can't have Naruto find out in his current state, Itachi to really, we want him to grow to be a strong leader, only then will we tell him everything, so please?"

"I didn't say anything that needed justification."

"Sorry."

"Hn."

"So will you?"

"Course." Sasuke replied hanging up the phone. Iruka stared at the phone, _Had I hit a nerve?_

* * *

Fav, review, follow, question, I love feedback~

Yup Itachi is making appearances now, and he's a good guy~

I'm gonna update every Saturday or Friday night


	7. Chapter 6

Good morning~ The first time I posted Saturday Morning. So since the first month anniversary is here, in the next few days, today this chapter consist of 2 chapters in one but I wrote it as one chapter, i.e. why's it's so long, or well long for me.

So how was everyone's week?

Naruko is back this week and Sasuke is a little nicer, a bit, at times~

Warning: Gore, Violence.

Now onto the story.

* * *

The two sat silently in the still living room, quietly watching each other. "Um," The two turned as Iruka entered the room, a tray in his hands with three coffee cups on top of it. "Why did you want to talk to us Sasuke?" Iruka asked, hesitantly setting the coffee in front of Sasuke the other in front of his lover, Kakashi, before taking a seat and taking the final cup.

Sasuke gave a rushed breath, (Uchiha's didn't sigh but he was pretty damn close to giving in to the urge), "Are you sure Naruto isn't gonna be home anytime soon?" Sasuke finally asked.

"No, he's at school, he shouldn't be home until 2." Iruka replied, Sasuke turned, sparing a glance at the clock. It was only about 11:30, he had time.

"So what's so important Uchiha?" Sasuke's concentration turned to the white-haired man.

"Kakashi, you remember how you lost your left eye?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi lied a hand on his covered eye, as the once tense atmosphere froze in despite. He let his hand fall to the couch.

"What's that gotta do with anything?" Iruka interjected.

"Do you remember how you lost your left eye?" Sasuke asked in a harsh tone.

Kakashi looked Sasuke square in the eyes, "They're back to clean up, aren't they?"

Iruka looked between the two confused, then stopped as his face paled. "No," He whispered then turned to face Sasuke, "No way in hell! They're gone, annihilated! They were completely decimated!" Sasuke shot a glare at the man, he collapsed back on the couch in fear of the growing presence. Sasuke's glare calmed and he turned to face Kakashi once more.

"From what I know Akatsuki has come back. They're recruiting, understand however I was told that the council has every move they take, every step they take under surveillance. However if anything happens and we lose them, they're first target will most likely be Naruto." Sasuke finished.

"I trust the Anbu. They'd never lose such an important target, right?" Iruka asked looking at the two men hopefully.

Kakashi and Sasuke exchanged a glance, "Where were they last seen?" Kakashi asked.

"I don't know."

"Can you protect Naruto, Sasuke?"

"Who do you think you're talking too?"

"Then we have nothing to worry about, if the Akatsuki are under our watch then Tsunade is capable enough to move the pieces, and keep Naruto safe if anything happens." Kakashi finished.

"Just keep an eye on him, whether you're in the shadows or right next to him, please Sasuke." Iruka begged.

"The council are capable," Sasuke resisted the urge to puke after saying the statement, "It's nothing big, it's better to know though for Naruto and your guy's safety." Iruka visibly calmed at the statement and Sasuke tensed, never again, he would never speak in that way to anyone again. Never, never again! Why the hell did he even try to calm the man! That's what Kakashi was for!

"So, um, Sauske, you're work, um, how's it going, you look pale?" Iruka asked, smiling at the boy.

Sasuke gave a small smirk, "Well Kakashi's is done," Sasuke said glaring at the man but then turned back, "I'm returning now. This conversation never happened." Sasuke finished standing up and heading for the door. The men watching as the older vampire left, then spared a glance at each other as the door finally slammed shut.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto looked at his phone, reading the time, 12:16, he signed himself out of school. He just wasn't feeling all that good lately. Ever since he learned about that bastard. Naruto shook his head, why was he so smitten? Was he smitten? He looked up as he walked down the street near his house, then he stopped feeling his heart skip a beat. In front of him, walking from his house towards a 2014 Cadillac elr sitting in the street, was the bloodsucking, overwhelmingly beautiful raven-haired man that had been in Naruto's head for nearly 2 weeks. Naruto felt himself drool, whether it was directed at the vampire or the Cadillac, Naruto didn't know. But for sure he knew one thing, he knew the heart-wrenching feeling of disgust and hatred that was blackening his core and threatening to force tears from his eyes. He sent an evident scowl at the vampire, his anger reaching a new level as the vampire reacted with a smart ass smirk as he opened his car door. Naruto fumed, storming into his house and harshly slamming the front door behind him.

"N-naruto! Why are you back?" Iruka exclaimed jumping to his feet.

"Why was that damn leech here?!" Naruto yelled taking the two adults by surprise.

"Excuse you!" Kakashi exclaimed sitting up. Naruto jumped back realizing his own behavior,

"Sorry."

"Why are you back?" Iruka asked once again in a soft voice.

"I wasn't feeling good." Naruto whispered.

"Head up to bed, I'll make you some soup." Iruka smiled softly, lightly brushing the boy's shoulders.

"I'm not 5 anymore Iruka-Sensei." Naruto whined.

"Haha, come on." Iruka smiled hugging the boy's shoulders.

"We still gotta disinfect the house of any bloodsucker germs." Naruto mumbled to the amusement, and worry, of the two men.

Naruto sighed after Iruka left his room, did he really yell at them? He felt even more like shit now, why did he let himself get so angry? Naruto collapsed onto the bed, "Damn leech with the fucking duck-butt hair." Naruto hissed then sighed, "He's so beautiful, why do I feel like I know him?" Naruto questioned hugging his pillow.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke stretched as he parked his car in the garage, then sat back for a moment, "Fuck you too dobe," Sasuke mumbled remembering Naruto's scowl. "This is why I don't do things for the sport of it, Tsunade owes me hell after this ends." Sasuke pulled out his car keys and headed into his house. Through the laundry room, where the door to the garage was, coming to the living room and regretting it immediately, "Suigetsu why are you in my house?"

"I was bored."

"How'd you get into my house?"

"You're balcony door may or may not be broken."

"You're paying for it, just like my new couch."

"Awh, I cleaned up the couch why do I have to buy a new one?"

"Hn." Sasuke glared at the man, making Suigetsu nearly piss his pants but he grabbed his credit card and handed it to the raven. Sasuke took the card and slid it into his pocket.

"Hey bro, you okay?" Suigetsu asked, his eyes carefully analyzing the man. Sasuke glared at Suigetsu but the man ignored it, "You're really pale, even more so than normal. When was the last time you fed Sasuke?"

"It doesn't matter" Sasuke replied.

"Like hell it doesn't!" Suigetsu exclaimed jumping to his feet, "Now, go, and get some blood! You're overworked and you look like hell! The nearest blood drive is literally a couple leaps away!"

"Hn."

"Sasuke! If you don't I'm gonna call Itachi!"

"Like I care."

"Yeah, you do." Suigetsu said smugly.

"Hn."

"I'll fix the balcony door and let you keep and use my card as you wish." Sasuke looked at Suigetsu, contemplating the proposal.

"Fine." Sasuke replied.

"Okay, go, now." Suigetsu exclaimed, Sasuke glared at the man but ultimately left. As soon as Sasuke was out of the house Suigetsu pulled out his phone, calling someone and holding the phone to his ears. "Itachi?"

"Suigetsu, why are you calling me exactly?"

"I think Sasuke needs a little help here."

"You realize he's an Uchiha right?"

"I know but Itachi, he looks like he hasn't fed in months."

"That's not odd for Sasuke, he'll often ignore his health"

"Itachi, I couldn't give a damn about whatever Sasuke and this Naruto kid are doing, however I do know that if Sasuke is in this state he could fall behind in a fight. He could get hurt, he's protecting the future Hokage, and it's naïve to leave him alone like this."

"You know Sasuke as well as I do Suigetsu. He'll be fine, however I'll talk to Tsunade and see what she has to say, and if you call me naïve again we're gonna have a problem."

"Y-yes sir." Suigetsu tensed.

"Good, good-bye." Suigetsu nodded at the phone, hanging up.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto walked over to his nightstand, kneeling down and pulling at a cardboard box under it. He moved around grabbing at the videos, maybe he recognized the man from one of Naruko's videos. Looking through it he read the names, _Family, Godparents, Pets, School, Friends, Lovers, Affairs, Teachers, Swordplay, Sealing, Teams, Missions, Hunters, Council, _Naruto stopped,

"Go back, go back." He mumbled as he looked at the DVR tapes and finally pulled out the one titled _Teams_. He hadn't watched it enough to memorize it but he remembered Naruko had introduced some people. Personally Naruto only concentrated on topics that related solely to his family. Most of which he either, hadn't met or rarely met. He pulled out the tape and set it aside looking at other's and begrudgingly picking up a tape titled _Vampires_ as well, granted he didn't care much for the topic however he couldn't throw it out, he refused. Grabbing the tapes he moved to the TV and set it up to watch the videos, sitting back as _Teams_ started.

"Well then, on this segment of Big Sisterly advice," Naruko stopped, laughing then continued on, "Okay but for real. This video, as named, is about teams. Very few hunters don't work in some type of team okay, most teams consist of 2 to 4 people depending on the situation and skill level of our teammates." The scene changed to a light-skinned woman of slender build, she was rather tall as well. She had long, black, shoulder-length wavy hair, and eyes that were red in color, with an additional ring in them. "This is Kurenai, we often work together in teams, and she's so beautiful isn't she?"

"Naruko, you're so weird." The woman, Kurenai, replied.

"Awh, come on, give me something."

"Hah, you're brother's name is Naruto isn't it?"

"Yeah, kinda confusing right?"

"Just a bit, so guess what?"

"Nah?"

"Asuma asked me out this weekend."

"Ohhh," Naruko squealed girlishly. "Ah, Asuma is Sarutobi's son, the previous Hokage's son." Naruko explained to Naruto before switching scenes. Naruto looked at the screen. He knew both Asuma and Kurenai they were teachers and high-level Hunters. Kurenai is actually pregnant with Asuma's baby, and Asuma died in a few months before after a dirty hunt. He went against some rogue vampires but a snitch within the association spilled their plan. They ended up sniffing out the rogue vampires and the snitch but Asuma, and many others, still lost their lives.

Naruto froze as the next image came into frame, pausing the video. He'd recognize the duck-butt style from anywhere, even from behind. He released a deep breath, he had no positive evidence, and he had nothing to prove it. And even if he had a unique hair style it didn't matter, he hadn't seen the man's face he couldn't prove it. His sister couldn't know that bloodsucking bastard, right? Naruto sighed pressing play as his sister's voice came back to him.

"Come on bestfriend," Naruko whined. "Look over here," Naruko baaed. "Pretty please, please." The other person in frame kept his face forward, away from Naruko. "Hah, why do you hate cameras so much?" Silence. "Please," Silence. "You're a dick," Silence. "Hah, fuck you too Sasuke." Silence. Naruko sighed, the camera gave a slight jump and Naruto recognized as Naruko ran forward, in front of the man quickly turning to catch the man's face and succeeding. Naruto froze, it was Sasuke, there was no doubt, "Haha, I got your picture, you bitch!" Naruko screamed.

"Congrats," Sasuke said, obviously unamused.

"Gah, well Naruto this dick is my teammate, whenever I go on trips outside of the city he's my bodyguard, well kinda. He's one of the oldest living vampires, and he's extremely strong. If you ever need help find him, you won't find better."

"Why the hell would I help?"

"You know what Naruto, Sasuke's right, find Itachi, his brother. They look alike so you won't miss Itachi and he's a lot better than this ass."

"Well since we've finalized that get that camera away from me," Next Naruto saw the camera being flung and the screen cracking before the video went completely black.

Naruto sat, processing the information. "Naruko and Sasuke," Naruto muttered, they were friends, they were close, they went on missions, who was Sasuke? Who was Sasuke to him? Naruto jumped out of the bed running down the stairs, "Iruka!" Naruto yelled as he ran, stopping at the bottom of the stairs where he saw Iruka on the couch,

"Naruto?" Iruka questioned looking up from his book as he looked at Naruto.

"Iruka, could I meet, or well talk with Sasuke?"

"Hmm? Why the sudden change?"

"He, I, um, Sasuke and I, Sasuke and Naruko, they knew each other right!? What was their relationship!? Maybe, maybe he can tell me about Naruko, stuff I can't learn from the videos! Please, even if it means nothing, but!" Iruka looked over the boy as he thought, Sasuke would never tell Naruto anything the blonde didn't need to know. However now it wasn't just about Naruto, Sasuke hadn't come to terms with Naruko's death or his own involvement in it. It wasn't a good idea no matter how you looked at it,

"No."

"Wha!? Why!?"

"It's just not a good idea Naruto."

"What the hell!" Naruto yelled, "You know what this means to me Iruka?! How could you say no?" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, there's too much you don't know." Iruka replied.

Naruto looked at him, waiting for an explanation, realizing he wasn't getting one he went on, "Fine I'll find the bastard myself!" Naruto turned and stormed from the house,

"Naruto wait!" Iruka yelled jumping up then looking back, it was pretty late, Naruto was in danger. Diving for his phone, Iruka called Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" Iruka exclaimed.

"Iruka?" Sasuke said.

"You, what are you doing?"

"Does it matter?"

"Listen! Naruto found about you and Naruko, he wants to meet you, to talk about Naruko and his family, when I said no he flipped and stormed out, please find him!"

"If you don't want Naruto talking to me about Naruko is this really a good idea?"

"His life is more important."

"I'm going." Sasuke replied hanging up the phone. Iruka ran out of the house, looking around the road, he couldn't see Naruto and he didn't have a strong enough ability to sense him, so for now he had to wait and trust Sasuke, he wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"That was so childish." Naruto whined as he headed to the park. He looked up at the moon, it never occurred to him that it was so late. It wasn't such a good idea to run out at night, not that he worried about it too often and he seemed pretty lucky with avoiding rogue vampires at night. He shook his head, why was he worrying, he rarely got attacked anyways. He turned into the park and headed over to the swings, taking a seat. He sat with his back pushed against the right chain and one of his legs pulled onto the seat.

He knew it was weird, obsessing so much over a family he'd never know, never meet and going against the only family he actually had but . . . growing up all he'd ever heard about were the noble and amazing accomplishments, every member of his family had some story, some award, something that made them amazing. His mother was one of the strongest hunters around, she had a large life force, power and skill. Then his father was Hokage and his sister was a renowned hunter like their mother. He wasn't great like them, just average, his swordsmanship was rather advanced and he was an okay fighter, hunter wise, but he could barely even sense. "Hah, I'm depressing myself here." Naruto sighed running a hand through his hair and lying his head on his knee. The trees behind him rustled, and he heard some branches crack, and the more he listened the more he heard, the grass being crushed, the bats in the trees and the river in the forest but it was a mile or so away. His hearing was probably the biggest thing he had going for him. He gave a small breath, then quickly rolled away from the swing, using the foot that was on the swing as a foothold, throwing himself to the side, avoiding a vampire as it launched at him. He spun looking back at his opponent. An average sized man with black, short, ruffled hair. He spared a glance at Naruto, showing a toothy smile. Naruto jumped back to his feet, admiring his opponent. He had strong legs, average arm muscles, strong abs. He'd be a moderate level enemy. Naruto smiled slightly, how could he do without a weapon?

"I'm a little hungry," The vampire sneered.

"Well you're not getting a meal outta me honey," Naruto sassily replied, proud of his own joke. Naruto charged at the vampire sending a punch at the vampire's left pectoral. The vampire used the chance and sent a fierce hit towards Naruto's head. Naruto narrowly dodged, launching forward and tackling the vampire. As he straddled the vampire he began punching the leech in the face repeatedly. The vampire caught Naruto's waist and threw him off, slamming the hunter into the metal pole holding up the swing set. Naruto gave a surprised gasp, taking a sharp breath of air and running at the vampire again, moving to kick him with his left leg. The vampire blocked Naruto's leg as Naruto brought his right arm up to hit the vampire again. The vampire caught his clenched fist, throwing him back and expanding his teeth, going for the kill. Naruto grasped the swings seat forcing it into the vampire's face, his teeth piercing the seat. Naruto reached up grabbing the swing's chains and pulling the chains diagonally, wrapping the chains around the vampires neck as the vampire worked to pull his teeth out of the seat. With all his strength Naruto pulled the chains, cracking the vampire's neck with the pressure of the chains and killing him. Feeling a sudden sense of danger he turned, seeing a second vampire, with teeth prepared to bite into the boy. Naruto froze, he couldn't do anything, he couldn't force his body to move fast enough, he was stuck. Then the vampire stopped, all Naruto could see was the bloodsuckers head fall to the ground as the body turned to ash. He looked forward, where the second vampire originally stood and in his place was the raven-haired bastard that Naruto had been looking for, in his hand was a kitchen knife. Sasuke admired his knife and as he did he spoke to the blonde,

"Vampire 101, only newborns travel alone. You can always tell the extent of a vampire's age based on their vampire forms. Recently turned vampires have less prominent red eyes and smaller fangs." Naruto was still frozen stiff, now what?

"T-thank y-!" Naruto began but was interrupted as Sasuke pulled Naruto onto his shoulder.

"Wah! What the hell?!" Naruto exclaimed

"Iruka's looking for you."

"At least let me fucking talk teme!"

"Hn." Sasuke grasped Naruto tightly onto his shoulder and began walking towards Naruto's house.

"I can walk by myself! Let me down!" Naruto exclaimed kicking and punching at Sasuke.

"No." Naruto stopped kicking and turned, looking at the back of Sasuke's head.

"You really are a bastard," Naruto whined setting his elbow against Sasuke's back and leaning on his hand. Whatever, he got a free ride home, he'd deal. "So you knew my sister?" Silence. Naruto took that as yes, it didn't matter if he denied or accepted it, Naruto had seen the proof. "How close were you? How'd you meet? What was she like? Did you ever meet my parents? What were they like?" Naruto went on asking questions, but getting no response he hit the back of the raven's head. Both angry and disappointed. "At least answer my questions!"

"No." Sasuke replied and continued walking.

"Damn teme, fucking bloodsucker." Naruto mumbled leaning back onto his hand, saying nothing more for the rest of the walk.

As they arrived Sasuke opened the front door and entered, Iruka waiting silently on the chair in the living room. He jumped to attention when he saw the two men, Sasuke walking over to the couch where he flung Naruto off his shoulder and onto the couch, banging the boys head against the arm rest as he did. Yelping in pain Naruto grabbed at his head, Sasuke paying little attention as he turned to leave, his job finally finished. However he stopped just as he opened the door to leave, then he turned back and looked at Naruto, "You're alike, you and Naruko. You both have the same personality as your mother, and look like your father, granted Naruko had a bit of her father's personality as well, well good night, dobe" With that Sasuke left the surprised Iruka and Naruto to their own devices.

* * *

Read, fav, review and follow~ Feedback is beautiful~


	8. Chapter 7

Gee, this chapter was hell.

I had everything planned but I felt like the planning rushed into the next chapter so I decided to write just a small breaker in and yeah, I had no idea what to write so I just went with it. That's also why's it's a bit late, a mix of school work and writer's block. I'm sorry it was late! *Get's on my knees and bows* Gomenasai! I'm a horrible person! I'm sorry!

Anyway~

There's some texting in here between Kiba and Naruto

_Kiba's messaging._

Naruto's messaging. 

Neji, Hinata and Kyuubi are all mentioned but they aren't here yet~

I loved this chapter~ and we're finally seeing a little progress in Sasuke and Naruto's relationship, if you wanna call it that.

Sasuke is such a sadist! I think I wanna follow it up~

How do you all feel about a sadistic Sasu-chan my lovelies?

* * *

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto gave a small sigh, he couldn't do it. He looked at the display in front of him, he couldn't get on the bed and do it. He wasn't ready, he didn't have enough will. With another sigh he reached his arm over the bed, then gave a fierce swipe, throwing his homework, the textbooks and writing utensils all to the floor. Then he walked over to the bookcase, grabbed a manga and plopped onto the bed. Crawling to the edge of the bed, he looked through the mess he had caused and grabbed a box of pockie. Half off the bed as he stretched to reach the box in the middle of the room. He crawled back on the bed and settled opening the manga titled, One Piece, Kiba's recommendation, for the most part it was pretty interesting but really long. Naruto grabbed a pockie stick and plopped it into his mouth, sucking at the chocolate on the end. He jumped as his phone vibrated next to him, he spared a glance and dropped the manga grabbing the electronic. A message from Kiba on the screen,

_Hey man you get any of the math homework?_

Naruto resisted the urge to laugh as he read the message replying, Dude you're doing homework?

_I try man, oh well. Well anyway! This weekend, we're all going to a club you gotta come man!_

And homework?

_We're getting real life experience out there man, we don't need school._

Naruto thought over the proposition and remembering his last encounter at a night club decided against it, Good excuse, but not anytime soon man. I'm not in the clubbing mood.

_Karaoke? Bowling? A movie? The park? We don't have to go to a club._

Kiba, come on. Man you need a girl.

_Look whose talkin, geez I just wanted a fun weekend._

Who else would be there?

_Sakura, Ino, Lee, Shikamaru, Chouji, our usual group._

Even Gaara?

_Temari and Shikamaru are, what do you think?_

I don't wanna leave home

_Dude, the fuck_

Sorry man.

Naruto looked at the time, 8:42 at night. Maybe he should've said yes, he had a lot on his mind. So his mom and dad and Naruko, they were all alike, Naruto properly shared their genes then. He was so happy at the small little revelation, why, he didn't understand. It's not like there was any confusion that he was their son, their brother, their family but knowing he honestly 'fit in' with the family was a, relief? Maybe that's what he was feeling, relief, happiness and overall excitement, how weird was that. Relief, knowing he was part of a family, even when they're was no doubt.

"Hah." Naruto leaned on the bed, staring at the wall, he closed his eyes and hugged his head, he didn't wanna go to school the next morning.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Neji?" Sasuke questioned as he sat in Tsunade's office.

"Yeah, how would you feel if we called him down?" Tsunade asked.

"For what exactly?"

"To help out a bit. I mean you just got back from vacation, you gotta catch up on work, watching out for Naruto. You got a lot on your plate Uchiha, a little help won't kill you."

"I don't want help, I don't need it."

"Suigetsu and Itachi think you might need it."

"Itachi isn't here, and Suigetsu's just an idiot. Either way Neji's watching over Hinata. She needs the help more than I do."

"The last time you saw Hinata was when you stayed with the Hyuugas a couple hundred years ago. Hinata's not as helpless as she was before."

"Hn."

"Uchiha stop being so damn complicated!"

"I don't need or want any help." Sasuke replied, calmly closing his eyes, as he stood, pushing the chair in.

"Too bad, Hyuuga should be here in a week."

"Sounds like you've already decided."

"Well it's rare for Itachi to ask for a favor, how could I possibly turn him down?"

"Use Kyuubi to your advantage, then it's easy."

"You sure know some nasty tricks Uchiha."

"You learn after living so long."

"Wait, doesn't Kyuubi hate you?"

"Why do you think that is?" Sasuke smirked.

"Hah, you're such great brothers."

"He's not my brother."

"Yet."

"Ever."

"Don't be so sure."

"It's been almost 50,000 years for those two, you really think it's gonna change anytime soon, hn."

"With a little push, they're already practically dating, well they're in love."

"Is there a reason my brother's love life got involved?"

"Because I ship them, I have since I was a young girl."

"Thank you for that information." Sasuke glared as he turned to leave. Tsunade gave a small laugh, she enjoyed teasing the Uchiha's.

"Give Neji a few days and he'll be in."

"Hn," Sasuke replied sending Tsunade a glare. Sasuke walked to the door but stopped slightly turning, "Never call me to a high school again, bad enough memories as is." Tsunade gave a small chuckle, shooing the Uchiha.

Sasuke walked out, watching the teenagers moving through the hall. They were in between classes, great. The school was known as Konoha high. And basically all the students were future hunters, they trained their bodies and taught vampire hunting. There were no grade level's here, for instance all of Naruto's friends were either from high-class families or had awoken a blood-line ability. For instance his friend Kiba could control canines. Gaara was from a high-level family but could also control sand. Whereas his siblings had awoken more common elemental abilities that every bloodline possessed, so technically they should be in a lower level, however they came from a high level family with connections to the council. He almost froze as he heard a screech, "Kyaa!" He turned quickly, looking for the source, an overwhelming feeling of dread overcoming him. "Sasuke!" The next thing he knew there was a sharp pressure on his chest, nearly pushing him down, looking down he saw a flush of blonde and pink hair. _Sakura and Ino_. He wanted to cry, the last people he wanted to meet.

"Oi, Uchiha why are you here?" Sasuke glanced up noticing Gaara.

"Talking to Tsunade, apparently Neji's coming down." Sasuke looked at the Sabaku.

"Oh no." Gaara moaned

"Hn." Sasuke smirked, at least he wasn't the only one who was going to suffer. Then he looked at the two girls hugging his neck harshly. He awkwardly moved, pushing the two girls off of him.

"Laugh at me all you want Uchiha but you got a much larger problem now than I'm gonna have." Gaara smirked, glancing at the girls then walking away, leaving Sasuke to his struggle.

"Asshole." Sasuke huffed.

"Oh my god, it's been so long!" Ino squeaked.

"I've waited even longer!" Sakura pouted.

"No way forehead, I waited way longer!"

"Well he wanted to see me pig!"

"I would've died happy if I never had to meet either of you but that didn't seem to work out well. Anyway, aren't you both too old to be here?"

"Ouch." They both said in unison.

"We gotta watch Naru." Sakura smiled hugging Sasuke's arm.

"Well you're doing a pretty crappy job." Sasuke replied pushing her off, feeling his anger grow.

"Aww, well he has someone like you watching him so why should we intervene." Ino smiled grabbing Sasuke's hand, getting pushed away.

"Look, I've gotta go." Sasuke said pushing past the girls, struggling to move through the crowds of students at a human speed and still get away from the eccentric girls.

"Wah! Wait Sasuke!" Sakura cried, trying to follow but both girls were struggling against the crowd and ended up losing him. Sasuke turned down a hall, having ditched the girls, however as he turned he slammed into something,

"Watch where you're going!" The other voice cursed, as Sasuke had pushed him to the ground, only slightly swayed by the impact himself. Sasuke looked at the man he had pushed down, not even surprised when he saw Naruto. He'd long predicted running into the Uzumaki-Namikaze sometime throughout the day, granted he didn't predict it in a literal sense but still.

"Teme." Naruto spoke, slightly surprised. Then he scowled at the vampire, though the evident hate that was usually there seemed to have calmed, if only a bit.

"Dobe." Sasuke cursed, with little venom.

"Why are you here?" Naruto cursed.

"No reason you need to know." Sasuke glared, bending down, so he was closer to the blonde's face.

"Bloodsucker!" Naruto cursed pushing himself to his feet, accidentally lurching forward and head butting Sasuke. Naruto collapsed back onto the ground and Sasuke jumped up holding his head.

"What were you trying to do dobe!?" Sasuke exclaimed petting his forehead.

"I don't know!" Naruto cried hugging his head. "Whatever it was it didn't work!" Naruto whined.

"Nah dip." Sasuke glared, holding his forehead.

"Shut up teme!"

"Whatever, I'm leaving, hn." Sasuke withheld a whine as he rubbed his forehead.

"Wait! You still owe me something!"

"I owe you?" Sasuke questioned, slightly raising his eyebrow.

"Well you did push me down, so my sister, my parents, come on give me a bit more."

"A bit more what?"

"Information!"

"Even after you head-butted me?"

"You pushed me down first, remember?"

"Then we're even." Sasuke smirked.

"Maybe, but come on." Naruto begged, despite the loss of pride beginning to overcome him.

Sasuke looked the boy over, he still hadn't gotten to his feet, and for whatever reason the crowd was mostly curving around them. "What do I get?"

"What?"

"I don't waste my time just for the hell of it."

"Damn bloodsucking teme, what do you want?"

"Absolutely nothing." Sasuke smirked at the look of pain overcoming the boy's face, though it was quickly replaced with anger. Naruto finally jumped to his feet,

"What the hell!? I'm begging here you bastard!" Naruto yelled.

"It doesn't seem like it, get on your knees and-," Sasuke began, getting a solid hit to the face before he could finish. Sasuke's head bobbed to the side from the force.

"Fuck you! Damn I hate you fucking bloodsuckers!" Naruto yelled then turned storming away, dodging the people as he moved.

Sasuke gave a small smirk wiping at the blood on his lip, from where he had accidentally bitten his lip when he was punched, "I already told you what you needed." Sasuke finished, giving up and disappearing with a flash as he ran at a vampire's speed.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"That damn bastard!" Naruto yelled as he walked home, after that oh, so great conversation, he ended up just walking out of school. He was gonna get screamed at for ditching. But seriously, who did that egotistical bastard think he was?! Naruto fiercely kicked a nearby rock, it'd been a while since he felt so good hitting something, or someone. He looked at his hand, flexing his fingers and cracking his knuckles. He wanted to punch the bastard again. Naruto stopped, he wasn't really angry anymore, who knew violence was such a good outlet, good note for later. He finally stopped, taking a seat at a nearby bench and leaning his head back. "Teme," Naruto cursed again. "Hah, what could he even tell me? He didn't tell me what I didn't know and I doubt he even knows much that I don't know. Naruko made her videos scary detailed." Naruto sighed loudly, "He didn't have to fucking tell me to get on my knees." Naruto gave a slight growl before finishing, "I hate those damn bloodsuckers!"

* * *

I was so unbelievably tempted to have Naru or Sasu-chan have a wet dream of one another but it's too soon :'(

Review, fav, follow, if you like~ I love feedback because I'm weird like that and don't worry about giving me any constructive criticism if you have any advice I'm all ears.


	9. Chapter 8

Hello my dearies~

Well Neji is here, and I ended up making him OOC, I wanted a more open Neji, I'll make him mention destiny sometime just to verify his character :P

So there's a lot of Neji/Gaara in here.

Man this chapter was horrible to write though! It was so long~ my longest actually!

*Manga Spoiler kinda* *Manga Spoiler kinda* I'm so done with Sasuke, how he's been acting in the manga, I can't even, I'm just so done with him. Well expect for fanfiction and DJ, I can handle those. But is it just me or have you just given up on his actual character in the manga? *Spoiler end*

And it's late again u_u I'm a horrible person, I apologize.

I'd also like to thank everyone whose kept up with Guardian Demon up till now and have reviewed, faved and followed, I really appreciate it.

Anyway I don't have much to report so onto the story my lovelies~

* * *

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Ah, Uchiha!" Sasuke growled slightly as the voice came to him through the phone.

"Hyuuga." Sasuke replied.

"So guess who's in town?" Neji replied.

"Are you kidding me?"

"It's no fun without some mystery."

"Tsunade already told me you're coming."

"She ruined the surprise." Neji pouted in reply.

"What do you want?"

"I need your address."

"It hasn't changed."

"Got it, by the way I'm gonna stay with Gaara for the most part, I'll head out when we need to watch Naruto."

"You didn't think I'd let you stay with me, did you?"

"No, I knew you wouldn't, after all it's not like you stayed with Hinata and I for a couple thousand years."

Sasuke gave a small smirk, "Glad we're on the same page."

"I gotta meet up with Iruka and Kakashi sometime soon too."

"We can do that tomorrow morning, when the dobe is in school."

"Dobe? A pet name, really? Know what, I don't think I want to know. Anyway, tomorrow morning I'll head to your house and we can head out."

"Hn."

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Can I stay home tomorrow Iruka?" Naruto pouted as he hugged one of pillows that was normally sprawled against the back of the couch.

"Are you sick?"

"Sick of school." Iruka turned to the boy, giving a small smile,

"That doesn't count Naruto."

Naruto gave a small pout, hugging the pillow tighter as he held it in-between his legs. "Please?"

"Naruto, no."

"I don't feel good mentally." Naruto pouted.

"Hah, what's wrong?"

"Exhausted, that's it, so please?" Naruto begged.

"Why are you exhausted? Could it possibly be because you stayed up till 4:00 A.M. yesterday?"

"I'm offended," Naruto said faking surprise, then gave a small laugh, "I'm not an amateur sensei, I haven't slept in the last two days. Well unless napping in class counts." Naruto replied, staring off as he contemplated if his naps counted.

"Now you're definitely going," Iruka replied, grabbing a pillow off the chair next to him and throwing it at the boy.

"Mmph," Naruto mumbled as the pillow hit him. Then moved it from his face, laughing at the act.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Hmm, cozy." A man commented, as he and Sasuke arrived at the small house that belonged to the Uzumaki-Namikaze's and Iruka. The man alongside Sasuke was a fair man, rather tall having an average weight. He had dark brown hair that framed his face, pulled back into a low ponytail. His hair tied just a few inches above the end of his ponytail, which reached the middle of his back. He had odd eyes, his eyes having enlarged white irises with no pupils, a bloodline ability within his family.

"Hn." Sasuke remarked.

"It's so hard to talk to you." Neji pouted as they reached the door, Sasuke taking a moment to knock on it.

"You're late." Kakashi said as he opened the door,

"Sorry, my fault, I spent the night with Gaara, you couldn't have expected me to go just once, did you?" Neji smiled, playfully hitting Kakashi's stomach.

"You youngsters are so spirited." Kakashi replied, allowing the two boys to enter the house.

"Have you lost your spunk, old man?" Neji smirked.

"You don't even have your spunk yet kid." Kakashi returned the smirk.

"Please." Neji replied sarcastically.

"What a great reunion." Iruka muttered, embarrassed by the conversation.

"I'm used to it." Sasuke replied taking a seat.

"Well Neji's grown a lot, I'm happy, he's changed for the better." Iruka smiled warmly at the raven as Neji and Kakashi continued their suggestive conversation.

"It's all thanks to Gaara. But Gaara's a hunter, Neji's a vampire. Give it a few years and things will go bad again." Sasuke said, grabbing a glass of tea off the table, swirling the cup slightly before taking a drink.

"Don't talk like that. I was a hunter, Kakashi was a vampire and it worked out." Iruka smiled slightly at the memory.

"But what'd you lose Iruka? Not everyone's so willing to give up everything."

". . . When you really love some-"

"Bull shit, its naïve thinking Iruka, you know it too."

"You guys didn't come here to just talk about relationships, right?" Kakashi asked leading Neji further into their home.

"Akatsuki?" Iruka asked, immediately springing up tension within the room.

"No, we just came to catch Neji up." Sasuke replied.

"What do you know?" Kakashi asked.

"Um, Naruto is the current Hokage heir, the Akatsuki are making their moves and Naruto's in danger of it and basically Sasuke and I need to protect him." Neji described.

"Then you know what matters." Kakashi asked.

"You also have to keep Naruto from learning about matters involving the association, to keep him safe, the more he knows the more danger he's in." Iruka added on.

"As it stands Sasuke's been following him around, but Naruto recently met up with Sasuke." Kakashi began.

"Yeah everyone in the organizations been going on about how the younger Uchiha has lost his touch." Neji smirked sparing Sasuke a glance, nearly cracking under the bone-chilling glare he received in return.

"Anyway, I'm thinking, just to alleviate the amount of work, you guys should switch watch duty and if anything needs to be done face-to-face Neji handles it so Naruto doesn't learn he's being watched, since he knows Sasuke's face and might connect the dots." Kakashi finished.

"The other's know right, like the Sabaku's?" Neji asked.

"Yeah, they were told beforehand to keep them from needlessly getting involved."

"And they've been useless the entire time." Sasuke intervened.

"Really, Uchiha?" Kakashi asked looking at the man.

"Hn."

"Well hasn't this been fun." Neji smirked.

"Geez, you two," Iruka sighed, "More tea?"

"Actually I'm heading out, I wanna meet with Gaara when he gets back from school." Neji smiled.

"You can't, we have a meeting with Tsunade today, she wants to go over some safety measures and what not if we have any run-ins, whether they're newborns, your average vampire or the Akatsuki."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Neji pouted.

"No." Sasuke replied as he stood.

"We gotta go to the meeting to, but we have time before the meeting starts, so let's just spend some time together." Iruka said going to stand with the others.

"Wait, if you guys aren't going to be here then don't we have to watch Naruto?" Neji questioned.

"His school friends are staying here." Kakashi answered.

"That's gonna work out great." Sasuke muttered.

"You really don't trust them." Neji replied glancing at the raven, receiving a glare in return, the raven then looking away as he, almost childishly, crossed his arms. Neji smiled to himself, was the raven actually pouting or were his eyes deceiving him?

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"What exactly are you doing?!" Naruto exclaimed as he turned on the sidewalk, looking back at the group following him home. Including all three Sabaku's, Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru and Kiba.

"Well since you don't wanna meet up with us this weekend, we're meeting up at your house today." Kiba smiled.

"And why don't I know about this?" Naruto asked.

"Cause it's a surprise." Temari smiled.

"Surprise." Kiba followed, throwing his arms out as if to display some alternative gift or attraction.

"Bro, I just want some ramen right now." Naruto pouted.

"Ew, that stuff's disgusting." Sakura cringed.

"What's wrong with you woman, did you lose your tastebuds!? Ramen is magical!" Naruto said giving a toothy grin and a proud laugh.

"Hah, let's just get to your house and drown ourselves in junk food and beer." Gaara said to the other's surprise, everyone looking at him. "What?"

"I don't have any beer on hand." Naruto replied brushing off the odd comment made by the youngest Sabaku.

"We haven't drunk in a while, it might be a good idea." Ino smiled.

"But where to get the alcohol?" Kiba smiled, everyone slowly turning their attention to Temari, as she looked at the passing cars. She turned, noticing their glances and shifted uncomfortably,

"What?"

"Beer." Kankuro smirked.

"Hah, I'm so irresponsible, aren't I? Hand me the money." Everyone smiled slapping their dollar bills into her hand.

"Give me 20 minutes." Temari sighed, turning and walking off.

Everyone went on as they walked to the blonde's home, pushed together in a small group as they talked about meaningless topics. Naruto glanced at Gaara, grabbing the man's arm and pulling him behind the group, "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" Gaara questioned, turning his attention to the blonde.

"You seem down, not to mention you were the one to ask for the beer."

"I just wanna get a little drunk."

"Why?"

"Nothing important."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, come on." Gaara replied with a solemn smile as he pushed the blonde into the group.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Gaara lied back, overtaken by alcohol. The world was spinning, his stomach hurt, and everything was so blurry. He wanted to sleep, he sat up, looking as Naruto talked with the others at the coffee table. "Hey~ -hic- Naruto~" Gaara slurred as he grabbed the boy's shoulders.

"Maybe you should take him to bed, Naruto." Kiba recommended.

"Yeah, you're probably right, come on." Naruto began as he pulled Gaara onto his shoulder. "Seriously Gaara why drink so much, I thought you hated alcohol." Naruto asked as he began pulling the red-head.

"Neh, neh Naruto. Have you ever -hic- met my boyfriend?" Gaara went on, ignoring the previous question Naruto had asked him.

"You have a boyfriend!?" Naruto exclaimed, he hadn't heard anything about it.

"Yeah~ He's really -hic- handsome, though his hair's girly hehe," Gaara hic-ed as he spoke, being led up the stairs, "I really love him, but I never -hic- see him~! Neh, neh, Naruto, thanks man"

"Dude you're so drunk," Naruto mumbled, he didn't really wanna hear about Gaara's love life. "And why are you thanking me."

"Because you brought -hic- him back, I haven't seen him -hic- and you brought him back Naru-to."

"I brought him back? What do you mean?"

"Sas-uke, sasu-chan, sasuey, he was overworked -hic- watching you, so my baby boy got to come -hic- and watch you instead hehe," Gaara stumbled, falling from the surprised Naruto's shoulder and slamming into the wall. "Wah! W-what was that for," Gaara moaned rubbing his arm then laughed, "It didn't hurt, oops~"

"Gaara what do you mean watch me? How's Sasuke and the other guy watching me?"

"The other guy is -hic- Neji! He's my boyfriend -hic-."

"Okay, okay, how's Sasuke and Neji watching me?"

"Well Sasuke -hic- is in the forest and stuff and watching -hic- you, all so you won't -hic- get hurt. Isn't he sssuch a great guy? Hehehehaha, hah, hah, and then Neji now too, every time -hic- you leave the house. How comforting, if only I could see him~" Gaara stared down sadly. Naruto flinched slightly at the expression on his friends face, but was to preoccupied to care.

"How do you know?"

"We all -hic- know~ When you have a -hic- vampire on your side -hic- we can sense it. Since Sasuke protected you -hic- we didn't have to worry~"

"Wait, what? Why would you be involved at all?" Naruto asked getting on his knees, Gaara fell over in the hallway as he exploded in a laughing fit, Naruto grasped the boy's shoulders shaking him, "Wait Gaara! Why would you guys have to worry?! What does that have to do with Sasuke? Gaara!" Naruto exclaimed but Gaara collapsed, falling asleep.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"What'd he mean?" Naruto asked as he stood at the front door, the other's having went home when news of the adults returning came. His older caretaker stood, uncomfortably watching the boy.

"It-it was for your safety Naruto!" Iruka exclaimed as he lunged at the boy.

"Why can't you just fucking trust me, why's that so damn hard! How many times is this now, where I've been completely pushed aside like this!?" Naruto yelled, slightly pushing Iruka back.

"Everything we do is for your safety Naruto, you have to understand that!" Iruka begged.

"I can protect myself, why is that so hard to understand," Naruto yelled, "You're using Sasuke and, and this Neji guy to stalk me?!"

"Listen Naruto!"

"And what about the others, Kiba, and Gaara, and everyone, why, what do they have to do with anything!?"

"Please Naruto." Iruka begged.

"No- just, don't, I don't get it, I'm just so unbelievably stupid I guess, I don't, I can't." Naruto looked at the man, seemingly calming from his overflowing anger his expression now being replaced with depression and surprise. He turned running up to his room.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Iruka awkwardly moved through the hall, going to check on Naruto, opening the door he noticed the boy gone, a note saying he was heading to school early. Iruka gave a small sigh, picking up his phone he called Sasuke, "Iruka?"

"I know this is an odd request, but this afternoon could you pick up Naruto from school, talk with him?"

"About what?"

"He knows you and Neji are watching him and he's fuming."

"Why exactly do you want me to talk to him?"

"Cause he won't listen to us."

"Ask the others, the Sabaku's and his friends."

"Naruto's asking about their connection to you. If he's this angry that we gave him bodyguards, imagine what'll happen when he learns the truth. I need you to do what you do best Uchiha, distract him, bring his attention to something else."

"I don't get what you want me to do though, you want me to confess my love to him or something?" Sasuke said sarcastically,

"Yeah, sure, that'd probably work."

"I wasn't being serious."

"Help me here, please."

"I don't know what you want me to do."

"Talk about Naruko, his father, his mother, please. Remind him, bring that back, please."

". . ."

"Sasuke?"

". . . I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, thank you Sasuke."

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"You look like hell." Neji commented as he entered the small house, Iruka leading him in.

"Thank you Hyuuga." Iruka replied, leading Neji to the couch.

"No, sorry, I just." Neji said as he took a seat.

"Tea?"

"No, I'm fine, I just wanted to talk." Iruka nodded taking a seat.

"What about?"

"Gaara feels pretty shitty."

"Don't worry about it too much, Naruto's just overreacting."

"I know I have no right, but why is this even a problem?

"From the very beginning all of us were assigned to look out for him, until he became Hokage, not a single person in his life is there by choice, maybe all his human friends. We know how he'd react, no one wants to hurt Naruto but everyone's afraid for his life so we try to keep him as sheltered and restricted as possible. But a problem also coming up is the fact we've kept him so sheltered, did so much to keep him from finding out that we put him in more danger, because now his level of sensing and fighting prowess are extremely weak compared to the rest of us. He knows so little he doesn't even know he's in danger, often causing him to be careless. A lot of the most important stuff is hidden from Naruto because we want to protect him, and have him grow into a great leader. We love Naruto Neji, he's important to all of us but if he learns about everything he'll probably hate us, completely and utterly despise us for betraying him. I don't, we don't want that, the problem is he's starting to ask more questions these days, he's starting to realize more than before. The problem is we're afraid of how he'll react, the actions he'll take when he learns what we've done to him, how confined he really is. And the more he knows about the association, about everything, the more danger he'll be in. Now that he knows do you think he'll just go with it? If we drop the security he'll probably get killed but he won't listen and the thought terrifies me, I mean us."

"Why would you send Sasuke to talk to him?"

"Because Naruto will listen to him, even if he doesn't want to. All Naruto sees Sasuke as is his sister's partner, Naruto will listen because nothing is more important. It'll calm his nerves and maybe Sasuke can convince him to allow them to help, after all Sasuke's the only reason Naruto hasn't completely shut down the idea because Sasuke's the only person Naruto can talk to about Naruko."

"What about you, Kurenai, all the teachers, everyone knew Naruko and the Uzumaki-Namikaze's."

"The reason no one else will say anything is because we don't want Naruto hanging on the past, we want him to move forward. Sasuke doesn't give a damn,"

"So you want him to know you just don't wanna be the one to tell him." Neji asked.

"No . . . I, yes."

"You don't wanna drag it up so you're making Sasuke, the one who took it the worst, relive all of it?"

"But Sasuke needs it, otherwise I wouldn't, he needs to remember."

"Iruka I know you haven't been a vampire long but you should know what that means. Vampires, definitely purebloods, don't 'remember', they relive. Due to our heightened senses we relive every memory we have when it comes up, you want Sasuke to suffer, not make amends. You know well, Sasuke saw Naruko as a sister, he would do anything for her. Still, Sasuke also had connections to the family's massacre. He can't bring it up, he'll shut down. He's not use to the emotions, the grief, and the guilt. Naruko was the first person Sasuke opened up to, then Itachi, me, Suigetsu, and Hinata. That was it, and after she died he closed us off again, granted not as much as others but still. As soon as the topic comes up, he shuts down and tries to push it away, he'll always try to avoid anything involving it, and if he were to talk about it he'd break down. And even more do you understand how afraid he is, if Naruto were to know, Naruto being Naruko's brother, Kushina and Minato's son, if Naruto were to know about the circumstances behind Sasuke's involvement in the massacre and even more validate the guilt Sasuke's feeling. The reason Sasuke won't say anything is he doesn't know what to say, he's afraid to remember even if it constantly haunts him, he's afraid of saying the wrong thing and further incriminating himself."

"Neji, stop."

"Stop!? Iruka are you even considering what this is taking from Sasuke?! I understand, if the situations were reversed, if it was Sasuke in Naruto's position I could understand, but what sense does it make?! I understand you want to protect Naruto, but his family, his training, his skills, those are things you don't cover up unless you wanna put him in more danger! I understand you're afraid, you don't want Naruto to be hurt, but pushing your problems onto someone else and making them figure it out for your sake is so cruel and demeaning. And don't you think you could give Naruto some more credit? How are you so sure he would be angry, how are you so sure he's not just hurt and upset? You don't know how he's gonna react, I get it's scary, but you're asking him to trust you when you guys don't even trust him!" Neji screamed, then stopped and spoke in a disgusted voice, "I honestly thought better of you Iruka." Neji finished then stormed out of the house. Iruka staring at the ground both dejected and hurt.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke leaned forward and set his head against the steering wheel. Looking up he noticed Gaara and a group of Naruto's friends. The two had a moment of eye contact before he returned to the wheel, this was not what he signed up for. He slightly stirred as his phone beeped, grabbing his attention. He looked at the message,

_It's Gaara, Naruto hasn't talked to any of us all day. Please talk to him._

Sasuke looked up at the redhead as he stared forward with a pleading look, Sasuke knew one thing, they hated putting their faith into him. Then Sasuke looked down, how did Gaara have his number? After a second he realized, _you're dead Neji. _He thought then looked back at the gate, noticing the blonde locks trying to escape the crowd. He sighed rolling his window down and leaning out,

"Dobe!" The blonde locks stopped, Sasuke's heart constricted when he noticed the evident depression in the boy's face, his expression quickly changing at the sight of the raven, anger overcoming his features, but somehow the anger seemed, it seemed fake. Sasuke was kinda shocked, he expected the blonde to be angry at him, now that he knew Sasuke was following him everywhere, but he seemed more or less unbothered by the idea, or at least his anger at Sasuke wasn't evident. The blonde walked over to the car, to Sasuke's surprise,

"What do you want teme?" Naruto asked, forcing poison into his words.

"Get in." Sasuke said throwing his head to the side, towards the passenger door.

"No you pedo." Naruto replied, and though he tried to sound angry there was a playful tint in his voice, a tint that Sasuke struggled to not smile at.

"Well you sure don't seem as angry as Iruka and you're friends believe." Sasuke smirked as he looked at the boy.

"And you care?" Naruto scoffed.

"Not really." Sasuke replied, his eyes surveying Naruto in a way that made the blonde's heart thump. Naruto looked Sasuke over, before hesitantly opening the back door and throwing his stuff into the backseat. Then he walked to the passenger's side and slid into the car, pulling on his seatbelt and staring forward, hesitating to speak. Not saying a word until Sasuke had started the car and was a street away from the school.

"So what do you want?" Naruto asked.

"You know now, don't you, I'm your bodyguard."

"Hah, like I need your help." Naruto replied as he rolled down the window and stared out.

"Why are you so against the idea?"

"I just," Naruto began then stopped, "Why should I tell you, tch."

"So you are angry?"

Naruto grasped his upper left arm with his right hand, giving a deep breath he hesitantly spoke, "I was angry of course, yesterday night, this morning, but it's stupid don't you think? What's there to be angry at? Of course they hid something from me, still I understand they just wanted to keep me safe, but, I, I guess I'm more upset, I'm more hurt that they just don't trust me, they don't believe in me. And it kinda makes me wonder, you know, if they hid something as silly as giving me bodyguards just in case, then what else have they hid from me? What more don't I know? And more than anything that thought rips me apart."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, thinking about everything he knew, everything the blonde didn't, why did he have to do this? What could he say, what was there to say? "Hn."

"You're pretty damn talkative aren't you," Naruto growled slumping against the door as he brought his attention to the raven across from him. "What do you do? Besides stalk me of course." Sasuke gave a small smirk,

"Run Uchiha corporations and spend some time to myself."

"That's it? You're not a very fun person are you?"

"Hn."

"Stop that," Naruto mumbled, then looked up, "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home."

"But you're taking me the long way."

"Is that a problem?"

"At least get a man some ramen first." Naruto mumbled, blushing slightly.

"Sure."

"Huh?" Naruto questioned as he looked at the vampire.

"We can get some ramen."

"Really?!" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked at the blonde, smirking at the imaginary puppy ears sprouting from the boy's head.

"Sure." Sasuke said, turning into a driveway as he backed out and began to head towards the ramen shop, opposite to where he was originally headed.

"So you're not a huge bastard then?" Naruto exclaimed, smiling proudly.

"Hn."

"That's so annoying stop it."

"Hn."

"Dammit stop it!" Naruto exclaimed, Sasuke gave a small smirk at the boy's anger. "Gee," Naruto pouted slumping back and crossing his arms. "You have a nice car, for a bloodsucker at least."

"Why do you hate vampires so much?"

"Exhibit A," Naruto said lazily throwing his hand down in order to display the raven, "And two, vampires are the reason my families dead."

"You can't go from A to two."

"Would you shut up?" Naruto exclaimed, childishly crossing his arms and muttering under his breath. Sasuke smirked as he heard the insults, 'duckbutt', 'bloodsucker', 'asshole' and his overall favorite, 'teme,' leave the blonde's mouth.

"So you hate all vampires?" Sasuke questioned, making a sharp turn.

"I guess so."

"You sure don't seem to hate me all that much."

"You're the vampire I hate the most." Naruto pouted once more.

"Hmm, sounds valid." Sasuke smirked.

"Neh." Naruto hesitated.

"Hn?"

"My sister, um-"

"We're here." Sasuke interrupted as they pulled up to the stand.

"Oh, okay." Naruto replied as he moved to get out of the car, stopping at the drapes as he waited for Sasuke to catch up to him. The two stopped, settling at a table and ordering their ramen.

"No blood?" Naruto scowled at the man.

"We vampires prefer it but we can still eat normal foods, it's just not as appetizing and doesn't quench our hunger."

"Why?"

"Hn?" Sasuke mumbled looking up at the man.

"Why would you give up your humanity?"

"Sometimes people turn to be with the ones they love for eternity, others are attacked and have no choice, and some are crazy and just see immortal life ahead of anything else."

"Which were you?"

"None, I'm a pureblood. We aren't turned, we're born vampires."

"That happens?"

"Hn."

"Why do you attack humans?"

"We don't all go after humans. The organization owns a couple blood banks for vampires all around the world, those of us in the organization who need blood to survive get blood that way. Older vampires usually train the humans they turn into their likeness, or train their lovers, their training decides which method of hunting they prefer. A lot usually use the blood banks we have, they're open to everyone, but others are taught to hunt and kill humans. If you're going on what happened to your family," Sasuke stopped for a second but went on, "it was because of status, nothing more, nothing less."

Naruto stayed silent as he slurped his ramen then looked at Sasuke again, "Doesn't that mean I'm in danger, because of my status?" Sasuke smirked, looks like he wasn't a complete dobe,

"You have no idea how many times I've saved you, do you?"

"I remember we were at the park, remember vampire 101?" Naruto replied looking up at Sasuke with a playful smile.

"Which you didn't know," Sasuke smirked taking in another fork full of noodles. Naruto gave a mischievous laugh, catching Sasuke's attention. "Hn?"

"Nothing," Naruto smiled as he slurped up a mouthful of ramen. "So why'd you join the organization?"

Sasuke pondered the question, he couldn't exactly answer it without bringing up too much, "You learned that in history class."

"Hmm? Aw, come on, I don't pay attention in history class."

Sasuke smirked, resisting a small chuckle, "Too bad."

"Aww come on. Wait, history class, how fucking old are you?!"

"I am a vampire."

Naruto's face went white, that's right, he was a vampire . . . How, why, did he fell so relaxed . . . he'd forgotten. Sasuke was a vampire, not even, he was the man secretly commissioned to watch him. "Why," Sasuke looked at Naruto, "Why were you watching me, following me, what was so important."

"It was just for your safety. Naruto, listen, you're loved okay. Everything they do, is for you." Sasuke finished.

"My friends, what about them, why did they know?"

"Simple, they're hunters to, you should know that. They can sense vampires and other hunters, the entire point of this was to protect you as the future Hokage. By having a bodyguard, your friends didn't have to be cautious around you and continue to look behind their shoulders. They had to know or what would they do when they sensed me? If they were to interfere not only could it get a number of us hurt but if they knew I was there to protect you then they wouldn't have to worry."

"I still don't understand, why keep it a secret?"

"Why are we fighting about this Naruto? You don't agree with it, right? It's as simple as that, if you knew, how hard would you have tried to fight us?"

"Of course I would fight it, they don't trust me, they don't trust my skill. Why should I go along with their plans when they lied to me?"

"Naruto, how do you kill a pureblood vampire?" Sasuke asked glancing at the man, knowing he would be unable to reply, "I mean a few minutes ago you didn't even know what they were. Do you know what you're families bloodline ability is?"

"I-we . . ."

"Do you know how to handle another vampire, or hunter, with a bloodline ability? What about multiple abilities?"

"Well-,"

"Do you even know hunters can be your enemies?" Naruto just stared shocked at the raven. Sasuke gave a small smirk, "You don't know the simplest of information, Naruto. You may have not been taught it, you may have not remembered it, but either way small mistakes, lack of information, all of that will get you killed. Until you can look at all of us, answer the questions I have asked thoroughly with absolute certainty, how can you expect us to let you freely move when you don't even know the essentials?"

". . . I'm sorry. . ."

"Why apologize? Just trust us for now, Naruto, we know what we're doing. And if you need confirmation all you need to know is that every step taken against you, Naruto, is taken with your well-being in mind." Naruto froze for a second, then stared at his food, unsure and hesitant before he finally gave a small nod of confirmation.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto hesitated as they arrived at his house, it was pretty late. He looked over at Sasuke, "What should I say?"

"It's none of my business."

"Why must we always leave things on a bad note," Naruto muttered but moved to get out of the car. Then smirked to himself as he looked in through the window, "I hate you, bloodsucking teme."

"Hn. Dobe." Sasuke replied glaring at the boy, but it wasn't threatening or angry, it was almost playful and sent chills of excitement down Naruto's back.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Naruto, you're back!" Iruka exclaimed as he jumped up from the couch.

"Hey Iruka-sensei," Naruto said as he awkwardly scratched his head, then sighed looking at the man pleadingly, "I'm sorry for how I acted, both last night and this morning. I was upset and angry but I went too far. So, I'm sorry. And I can't say I'm completely okay with the situation but I understand you're reasoning, granted I still don't quite get why you hid it from me. But if it makes you feel better, I guess I can deal with it, for now, but next time tell me ahead of time, please."

"Um, n-no, I just, I was worried, for you. We all were, it wasn't, it just hasn't-,"

"Don't worry, I get it," Naruto smiled, hugging his frozen caretaker, who was overtaken with surprise, then heading to his room. He felt like he had, had a long day. Then he stopped, noticing the picture of his family on his bed side, alongside a picture of himself, his godparents and Iruka. He hadn't asked Sasuke anything about his family, had he forgot? He moved to his bed, grabbing the picture and looking it over. With everything that happened today maybe it wasn't such a shock? But Sasuke was right in front of him, he could have asked, there were so many awkward silences, so many chances, but he forgot? What did that mean? He collapsed on his bed, hugging the picture close as a red tint came to his face. Why was he so comfortable around the bloodsucker? "Teme."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke scratched his head as he entered his home, throwing his jacket lazily onto the couch and setting his keys on the coffee table. Then he turned, collapsing back onto the couch, he was exhausted. Hopefully things with Naruto got cleared up, it'd be troublesome if things got complicated cause of the dobe's idiocy. At least something Itachi taught him came in handy, just tell people what they want to hear and use it to get what you want. Granted the whole, supportive, life-coach act was extremely annoying and uncomfortable for him. But Naruto stopped with his temper tantrum and Sasuke still had his job. He clenched the couch angrily, so the entire organization was going on about how he 'lost his touch', please. He could do their jobs in his sleep. "Tch." Sasuke ticked as he stood up from the couch and headed towards his office on the top floor, at the end of the hall. He might as well get some work done. He stopped as he passed a mirror, an evident absence of a reflection. He stopped, staring it over for a second then continued walking as Naruto's voice came to his head,

"Why would you give up your humanity?" Sasuke contemplated the question. How would things be different, had he been human? He held his head as memories flooded back, he struggled to not collapse. How many of those memories would no longer exist, had he died like a normal human, so many hundreds of thousands of years before. Had he died what would have changed? The Akatsuki probably wouldn't exist, meaning the Uzumaki-Namikaze's would still be alive, Naruto wouldn't be alone. Granted he probably wouldn't have ever met them, not even probably, he would be long dead. The Uchiha would probably be extinct, but the Senju might have lived longer, Tsunade wouldn't be the last survivor. Maybe vampires would be extinct if he and Itachi were humans from the very beginning. Maybe he could have fallen in love, had a family, a normal job or maybe he would have become a hunter instead. He collapsed on his bed, struggling to push away the memories that now ripped his brain apart. He calmed as the memories settled and his sanity began to return. He set a hand on his forehead, what the hell was wrong with him? Why did it matter now? He stifled a laugh, one thing was for sure, had he not been a vampire Naruto probably would've died by accidentally walking into a vampire den. Or maybe one of the oni following him at night (*). Sasuke rolled onto his side and gave a small near inaudible laugh. _What a joke._

* * *

(*) This is a reference to chapter 1 when Naruto was walking home alone at night and Sasuke had to kill a newborn following him.

Neji is such a great friend~

Fav, follow, review, you know the drill. Feedback is amazing.

And if you don't understand something or have a question feel free to ask in the reviews and I'll get back to you ASAP.


	10. Chapter 9

I'm so sorry! I hate being late and I'm nearly two months late! Just so much has happened in the last few months and I haven't had time to write. But because it's been so long I made this chapter a lot longer! So it was a lot more work for me too. Yeah but I had to plan homecoming, then my Birthday, and volunteering, then my grandfather died and I'm so sorry for being so late! U-U I'm so sorry! For now I'll try to return to my old schedule but it might take two weeks for me instead of just one.

This is not a date yet U-U but the rest of it you can use you're imagination for~

Okay so I added,

_~/SasuNaru P.O.V/~_

Basically it's just a time skip signal, and there's no specific P.O.V or it shifts a lot throughout the reading. Then there's also

_~/Iruka P.O.V/~_

This won't be so common but it's just to kinda give Iruka's P.O.V on a few things and how Naruto's changing.

**What's already happened?**

Since it's been so long, I'm gonna do a quick what you've already read kinda thing.

Naruto is a vampire hating hunter, Sasuke was a close friend with the long past Uzumaki-Namikaze family. To whom were completely wiped out by vampires, excluding Naruto whom was staying at Iruka's. In Chapter 1 Sasuke saves Naruto from a vampire who's chasing the hunter, and Sasuke realizes how weak Naruto sensing ability is compared to others. In Chapter 2, Sasuke learns that Naruto has video's made by Naruko about her life and advice for her little brother. Sasuke also observes Naruto's swordplay. In Chapter 3, Naruto is invited out to a club and while there he's drugged by a vampire and taken to the back alley where his blood is sucked. Sasuke saves him from the vampire as well as two of her companions and takes him home. Naruto wakes up early and walks in on Sasuke talking with Tsunade and Iruka. In Chapter 4, we meet Suigetsu and Naruto wonders about Sasuke and their meeting. In Chapter 5, Sasuke learns that the Akatsuki are still alive and Naruto learns about Sasuke and that he's a vampire. In Chapter 6, Sasuke tells Iruka and Kakashi about the Akatsuki. Suigetsu realizes Sasuke hasn't fed in a while and sends him to feed while also informing Itachi about his brother's health. Naruto also learns that Sasuke was close with his sister, Naruko, by watching the videos she had made. When he asks Iruka about meeting Sasuke Iruka says no, leading Naruto to run away in rage. While out he gets attacked by two vampires he takes out one but is surprised by the second and saved by Sasuke. They fight but when Sasuke leaves he tells Naruto that Naruko and him were alike. In chapter 7, Tsunade tells Sasuke that Neji is coming and talks about Itachi and Kyuubi's relationship. While leaving Sasuke runs into Ino, Sakura, Gaara and Naruto. Finally in Chapter 8, Neji comes into town and meets everyone. While everyone is at a meeting Naruto and his friends go to Naruto's house and drink. While there Gaara reveals that Naruto is being watched by Sasuke and Neji. Sasuke talks to Naruto about it and whereas Neji also reprimands Iruka for relying so much on Sasuke.

_***Important***_

I'd like to clarify the time line in here is much different from the Naruto universe and even modern time. For instance modern technology has only been so important in our world for about 50 years, maybe a little more, whereas in this universe it's much older, a couple thousand years actually. So just to clarify it's much more stretched out in the story and there no real proportion to our timeline, it's really what's more convenient, definitely since certain factors expand for hundreds of thousands of years.

* * *

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Everything alright with Naruto this morning?" Sasuke asked as he held the phone to his ear, lying on the black leather couch in the middle of his living room.

"More or less," The Hyuuga replied. "What could've happened?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking," Sasuke replied, glancing over at his tea on the coffee table.

"Nope nothing, so you got him this afternoon?"

"Yeah," Sasuke replied, forcing himself to sit up as he reached for his tea.

"Great, then tomorrow morning we switch out again?"

"Yeah."

"Got it, by the way, you know, if you're so worried you can pick him up in the morning."

"Drop all the work on me?" Sasuke commented, taking a drink of his tea,

"No, you just seem worried."

"Well he's my charge, originally at least."

"Okay, hey, I wasn't trying to say anything; you just seem uncomfortable with me being here."

"Since when do you care," Sasuke glared at the phone, curious about the Hyuuga's sudden concern. Then realized, "You're not trying to lengthen you're night after, are you?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm offended," Neji faked disbelief, then smiled, "Gaara has school, so I don't really get a night after, and anyway you just seem worried."

"Neji,"

"What?"

"Mind your own business."

"Well then, sorry," Neji mumbled. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin."

"Seriously?"

"Aw come on, stop being such a scrooge, I was just joking."

"Hn."

"I wake up in a coffin every night," Neji joked.

"You make your boyfriend sleep in a coffin, how aren't you single?"

". . . I hate you."

"Hn," Sasuke replied giving a slight smirk.

"Whatever, I gotta go, keep me up to date?"

"Maybe," Sasuke replied.

"If you guys suddenly get killed, tell me," Neji rephrased.

". . . I swear Neji."

Neji gave a small laugh, "Later Uchiha, tell our little blond I said hi."

"Hn," Sasuke replied, hanging up the phone.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"He's so hot," Sakura squealed as she sat with Kiba, Naruto and Ino at lunch.

"And he hasn't changed a bit, he's still so mysterious too," Ino squealed, using her hands to cover her mouth.

"What I would do to be with him," Sakura sighed, lying her head on the school lunch table.

"Tell me about it, but he's mine forehead."

"Hah, why would someone like him, go for a pig like you?"

"Please, your forehead is big enough to hold an advertisement."

"Bitch, he's mine," Sakura yelled jumping to her feet.

"Hell no," Ino followed.

"Are they still going on about that Sasuke guy?" Kiba questioned looking at Naruto and Shikamaru.

"You guys know him?" Naruto asked looking at the two.

"We're still part of the hunter's association," Kiba said looking at Naruto.

"And even then Sasuke and his brother Itachi were in the lesson about the founding of the hunter's association." Shikamaru yawned.

"Really?" Naruto asked looking between the two, "Seriously how old is he?"

"Old, you'd have to ask the man personally for a specific number," Kiba answered.

"Don't you dare," The three boys jumped as Sakura yelled at them.

"What?" Kiba asked looking at her.

"Sasuke's such an amazing and sincere guy, well for me at least, who cares about his age!" She smiled, twirling her hair as she sent a sharp glare at Ino.

"Please he's flirtatious and caring for me," Ino replied sending a teasing glare at Sakura.

The three boys looked at each other, "Really?" Naruto asked the two boys in disbelief.

"No way in hell." Kiba told him, "He's a complete and utter bastard to everyone."

"Don't talk about him like that!" Sakura and Ino screamed in unison, turning to face him. Kiba jumped, hiding behind Naruto.

"I'm sorry!"

"He's a powerful, beautiful and gentle soul." Sakura yelled at the boy.

"And he's a tortured, mysterious soul, he's so breathtaking!" Ino followed.

"Well I don't know about all that but from what I can tell, he's not a complete and utter bastard. He's still a bastard but there's something more to, at least I think there is." Naruto went on, getting confused glances from those around him. "What?" He asked looking at them.

"Dude you okay?" Kiba asked.

"Sorry? I just, you know?" Naruto replied giving a slight shrug.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru mumbled, sitting up and leaving the table.

"Don't leave me with these people!" Kiba called.

"See! So shut up Kiba!" Sakura yelled.

"Naruto! Bro!" Kiba exclaimed.

"Sorry!" Naruto exclaimed as Kiba grasped his collar, then slightly laughed as Sakura and Ino pulled Kiba away. His smile slightly faded as he turned looking at the two girls while they went on yelling at Kiba, he kinda felt sick. His stomach was in knots and his throat was constricting. Was he jealous? Who was there to be jealous of? He stopped, realization coming to his eyes, '_Oh right, I use to like Sakura, do I still like her?_' He thought, so he was jealous of Sasuke? Of how much Sakura was going on about the boy. But why did he feel like there was something wrong with that deduction; there was nothing else for him to be jealous of so it had to be of Sasuke, for Sakura. Or maybe he ate something bad and was actually sick? He wanted to throw up. He glanced at the others, then sighed, he wasn't in a very good mood anymore.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto skimmed over the groups of cars parked in front of the school. He had to ride home with Sasuke every afternoon and ride to school every morning with Neji.

"Where is he?" Sakura pouted as she stood next to him, scanning the crowd. Naruto felt his vein pop out of his head, Sakura and Ino were always waiting with him so they could ambush the raven. Finally the Cadillac ELR came into sight, sticking out like a sore thumb among the soccer mom vans and SUV's.

"Oh there he is!" Ino exclaimed almost immediately running for the car, alongside Sakura. Naruto sighed, making no attempt to increase his pace as he headed for the car. He listened as he came up to the car, opening the door and throwing his stuff in the back.

"Come on," Sakura whined, "just a bit?"

"He'd rather go with me forehead!" Naruto listened to the conversation, had they asked him out?

_"_Come on just an hour, no, thirty minutes." Sakura begged, "We can get ice cream?"

"Hn," Sasuke glanced at Naruto, waiting for the boy to get in the car.

"Well what about me?" Ino asked, Sasuke paying no attention to the girls, "Sasuke," Ino whimpered. He returned his glance to the girls as Naruto got in the car.

"For the hundredth time, no." The two girls pouted,

"Well next weekend then?" Sakura asked hopefully,

"Or maybe after school one day, with you and Naruto, and me and forehead?" Ino smiled.

"No." Sasuke simply said, then began driving off. Naruto felt his anger alleviate slightly, maybe it was because Sasuke formally turned down Sakura, now she could give up. And though he knew her well enough to know she wouldn't give up, he felt better, if only a bit.

Sasuke spared a glance at the blonde, he looked bothered by something, "What's wrong?"

"Hm?" Naruto replied, turning to the raven as he came back from his La La land.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, just tired." Naruto looked at Sasuke, he kinda felt bad for the girls though. They were constantly being turned down by the man they loved, he could relate to constantly being turned down no matter how hard you tried. "You know it might not be so bad to go out with them once, it's not like we're doing anything." Naruto stopped, feeling a sudden heart wrenching disgust. Was it because of Sasuke or Sakura? Because he didn't want Sakura to be with Sasuke, or because he knew Sasuke would say no and he was worried Sakura would get hurt?

"Hn. If I say yes they'll expect something and either way I have something to do today," Sasuke glanced at Naruto, his expression looking disheartened and solemn. Sasuke glanced at the time then back at Naruto, "So what do you say?"

"Hmm?" Naruto asked glancing at the raven.

"Wanna go shopping with me?"

"What?" Naruto asked looking at the boy, surprise evident on his face.

"I was gone from my house for a while, most of my clothes are now ruined, and most of my good clothes are in my other houses around the world. I've been able to deal with what I've had but I really haven't had time to stop anywhere, so what do you say?"

Naruto looked at the raven, his face lighting up as he laughed, "I would've never expected you of all people to ask me that."

"It doesn't really matter, I still need clothes so I have to go anyway and we pass the mall on the way to your house, it's pretty far out from my house, so?"

"Yeah, let's go! Can we get ramen first?!"

"It's at the mall, so yeah we could."

"Let's go then!" Naruto cheered.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

He was genuinely surprised that Sasuke invited him along, but he was undoubtedly ecstatic that he was invited along. "Why'd you wait so long to go shopping?" Naruto asked as he got out of the car, slightly jogging in order to catch up to Sasuke as he walked through the parking lot.

"Just busy, I had enough clothes to hold me over but I don't really care for having to run a load of laundry everyday so I can have clean clothes."

Naruto looked at the raven curiously then back at the mall, "Spoiled rich kid," He muttered then chuckled. Sasuke spared a glance at the blond, deciding to ignore the comment. "So what stores are we going to?"

"I don't really care."

"Really? I expected you to be the type to shop at Hot Topic and Spencers," Naruto smiled.

"Hn? Well I expected you to be the type to shop at Claire's and Justice, but I'm probably wrong." Sasuke smirked slightly, Naruto stopping frozen in embarrassment.

"T-those are good stores! There's nothing wrong with that!" Naruto yelled, then ran to catch up to him, "Either way I was with Sakura and Ino, it was only jewelry and it looked nice on me!"

"You know I was just kidding and had no idea about any of that," Sasuke smirked as he opened the mall door, allowing the blond in first.

"Teme!" Naruto pouted, walking through the door.

"Come on let's check out J.C Penney."

"What about my ramen?" Naruto asked, turning to look at Sasuke.

"Now?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I haven't eaten since lunch."

Sasuke looked at the time once again, he had a meeting at 5:00 and it was about 2:30, so they had time. "Fine."

"Yay!" Naruto cheered, hastening his pace as he went in the direction of the food court. Sasuke stared at the boy, making no attempt to keep up with him. Why was he doing this exactly? What was the point? It wasn't a lie that he needed some new clothes and hadn't had time to buy any, but still why would he bring the blond along? Just because he looked a little upset? "Hurry up!" Sasuke looked forward, nearly being overcome by the radiance of the boy in front of him that held a blinding smile, directed at the raven.

"Hn." Sasuke looked at the rows of clothing around them. Paying little attention to his blonde companion. Naruto gave a small whimper, running forward and grabbing Sasuke's wrist, forcing him forward, "Dobe!" Sasuke exclaimed as Naruto dragged him through the mall.

"Come on!" Naruto smiled, turning to face Sasuke with that brilliant smile of his. Sasuke gave in, allowing himself to be dragged through the mall, at least he didn't look so upset anymore.

"You're too enthusiastic." Sasuke said as the two stopped in the ramen line.

"It's ramen!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hn," Sasuke turned, glancing at two girls who were watching them both. They gave flirtatious giggles, waving at the raven and signaling for Naruto and himself to come over. Sasuke gave an annoyed glare, daring the girls to act on their fantasies, they froze immediately returning to their lunch.

"What is it?" Naruto asked noticing Sasuke's glare. He looked, trying to follow wherever the raven was looking.

"Nothing," Sasuke replied turning back to Naruto. He groaned uncomfortably, using his hand to block the rays of light coming in from the glass doors, leading out of the food court and into the parking lot.

"Oh, right, the sun probably isn't good for you." Sasuke glanced at the boy, instead of the usual venom in his eyes there was a deep curiosity.

"Newborns can't survive in the sun for the first 5 months of their turning, then older turned vampires can handle the sun for certain periods of time depending on their age then at a certain point it gets to be much to handle and if they aren't careful they burn to death. For us pureblood's, we're born with an innate resilience to the sun. However unlike turned vampires, no matter how long we're in the sun it doesn't kill us though it is uncomfortable. And the less blood in our system the worse it gets."

"Have you not drunk blood in a while?" Naruto asked, Sasuke could sense something in his voice, but it wasn't anger or hatred, it sounded more . . . awkward? Yeah, uncomfortable.

". . . It's been a week and a half, maybe a little longer but that's not much. Most of the older purebloods can go months without eating, granted the effects are a completely different topic."

"Could you explain purebloods to me? I mean I've never heard much about them." Naruto asked glancing at the raven.

"Later," Sasuke said glaring at the eyes that were stuck on the two. Naruto blushed as he noticed the eyes on them, they may have talked a little too loud.

"Next!" The two brought their attention back to the ramen.

"Miso ramen with roasted pork fillet please," Naruto smiled.

"Miso ramen." Sasuke followed.

"Okay 5 minutes please." The cook smiled. The two boys nodded moving from the line.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

"Where are we going after this?" Naruto asked as they sat at the table.

"Just look around?"

"Let's go check out Hot Topic!" Naruto cheered.

"Are you still on this?" Sasuke asked referring to their previous conversation.

"No, but I wanna check it out." Naruto pouted as he took a mouthful of ramen. "So purebloods?"

Sasuke looked at the blond, up from his ramen, "You have three types of vampires, newborns, turned vampires and purebloods. Newborns are recently turned vampires, they become 'turned vampires' when they begin walking in the sun. Their thirst for blood is at its strongest, their senses are at their highest and without a mentor many don't even know how to transform. Turned vampires have a higher level of experience and really that's it, they start gaining control over their instincts. Then purebloods, unlike turned vampires, are born vampires. Purebloods are the creators of the species, they created the first turned vampires. Then unlike turned vampires, purebloods can have children granted we can only have children with other purebloods, in medieval times our species was dominated by incest, however as times changed and morality followed the practice was stopped. Due to that most purebloods are related and so they began mating outside of our species, leading our species to endangerment. Now, besides my clan and the Hyuuga's, I don't know any pureblood vampires."

"So what set's apart a pureblood? I mean I get they're born vampires, and have a resistance to the sun but is there more?"

"Purebloods are like a perfected version of turned vampires. We're faster, stronger, smarter, and have a much better control over our instincts-"

"Wow conceited much?" Naruto muttered to himself jokingly. Getting a sharp glare from Sasuke, he stiffened and apologized, "Sorry!"

Sasuke closed his eyes slightly, shaking the comment from his mind and continuing with the conversation, "We also have bloodline abilities unlike turned vampires."

"Bloodline abilities?"

Sasuke spared a glance at the boy, "Wow you really don't know anything do you?" Naruto looked at the raven then shyly turned away. "Every hunter and pureblood vampire has a bloodline ability. What they are is basically abilities that are passed down through the bloodlines. The most basic pertaining to the four elements, water, earth, fire and air. These are said to stem from the father of both the hunter and the vampire species,"

"Father?"

"Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, it's said his mother was the god of our world. She was the one who introduced, I guess you could call it magic, into our world. Then Hagoromo fathered the very first pureblood vampire and hunter. From the very beginning they were at odds and then their children, their grandchildren and even up to modern times nothing's changed. The basic elements, water, earth, fire and air, passed onto his children. Every single hunter and pureblood vampire has the ability to awaken those four elements. However the elements changed as they passed down the bloodlines and mixed. These enhanced bloodline abilities set apart the families, as these abilities only awoke in direct descendants of the parent ancestor who held the ability. Even then they only awake in certain generations. Sometimes they're shown by changes in appearance and other times they're not so obvious. Bloodline abilities are extremely hard to awaken and it takes a lot of training, that, or a life-threatening situation. Many people start training their kids from about age 5 to awaken their bloodline abilities, if they have any."

"How are they awoken?"

"Usually at the most inconvenient times. One of mine awoken while I was eating dinner," Sasuke gave a small smirk, "everyone was pretty surprised when lightning suddenly shot through the house, I was only trying to grab the fork that fell off the table"

Naruto gave a small laugh and looked at the raven again, "Lightning? So is that unique to your family?"

"I come from the Uchiha clan, the most famous pureblood vampire clan as well as one of the few clans that are direct descendants of the very first pureblood, the Hyuugas can also trace their family back to the first pureblood. Due to that we have much stronger and much purer blood, so we usually awaken more than one bloodline ability, granted overtime and ours are usually much more powerful than the average clan's abilities. The longer one lives the more likely they are to release multiple bloodline abilities."

"So you can have multiple?"

"Depends on the family you come from, the training you've had, the amount of experience you've had and most importantly the ability to utilize your powers."

"Then, are there descendants of the very first hunter?" Sasuke smirked at the boy,

"Course."

"Really who?"

"Doesn't really matter now does it, Uzumaki." Sasuke finished throwing his cup away. "Come on."

"Wait! I still have questions!"

"Ask while we walk to Hot Topic."

"Mmph!" Naruto tried calling to the raven as he stuffed the leftover ramen down his throat. He threw the trash away and finally chased after the raven. Glaring as he finally caught up. "Okay, next question,"

"Seriously what do they teach you in that school?" Sasuke questioned.

"Mostly fighting, actually that's it and strategies, anyway so you have bloodline abilities?"

"Course, I'm a pureblood."

"Well, then, what are they?" Sasuke glanced at the boy, they're couldn't be much harm in telling him, could there?

"I have an eye technique, something which changes the appearance of my eye and gives me enhanced senses and certain sub powers, and then I control black flames and lightning."

"You gotta show me!"

"In a mall?"

"No, but, like later,"

"Hn," Naruto angrily puffed his cheeks then sighed,

"What about my sister? My parents? Maybe that could tell me what I might be able to do." Sasuke glanced at the boy, again, what could it hurt?

"You're father controlled wind and had a special bloodline ability, teleportation. Then you're mother controlled wind and had an innate skill when it came to sealing, and a higher than normal life-force and power force. Despite that she also had a dormant special bloodline that hadn't fully awoken in her but had awoken . . ." Sasuke stopped for a second, closing his eyes he went on, "It had awoken in your sister. It was an almost demonic ability, often it was represented by a rabid Kitsune. I personally can't explain what the full extent of this power was, however your sister was able to materialize this, almost, crimson fire, onto her skin and control it like a second body. Create hands and heads and separate body parts and, and, she," Sasuke clenched his eyes as the memory forced itself onto him, the oddly beautiful ability. He set his hand on his forehead, slightly moaning as he remembered, the power, the stance. He could remember how Naruko stood when under the Kitsune's influence. Her dead face, her lifeless glare, the overwhelming power was amazing but the effect wasn't worth it. He could remember how it would change her. For days she would be tired, exhausted, uninterested, easily angered but what stuck most was the blood, the sensation, the smell; it was always so strong afterwards because the power would rip away her skin, she would be in the hospital for weeks but she would never stop using it, never and despite what he said, what Minato said and Kushina and Tsunade and everyone who cared for her said she would never listen.

"Sasuke!" Sasuke was brought back from the memory by Naruto's voice. "Are you okay?" He asked, concern etched into his features despite how he tried to hide it. "You've been holding your head and just stopped talking." Naruto explained.

"Sorry, I was just remembering something. Anyway, what I was saying, um, the power, she used these extra hands, extra body parts I mean, to attack multiple enemies at once, confuse them. Oh, and, she, she also inherited her father's ability of fire." Naruto could tell immediately he was very awkward, uncomfortable in the way he was talking, something was wrong.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Naruto questioned.

"Fine." Sasuke coldly said brushing off the question, paying little concern to the blonde,

"You sure?" Naruto asked, Sasuke seemed . . . off? Granted Naruto didn't really know Sasuke well enough to say how he was normally, mostly a bastard.

"Yeah, anyway what were you saying?"

"Um, okay, I was just gonna ask if you knew what my powers could possibly be?"

"You tell me?" Sasuke replied, though he was rather detached now, well compared to his previous composure during their conversation.

"In class we learn hand-to-hand combat and weaponry, I've never even known about bloodline abilities."

"Well most kids learn about it from their parents, but still you never saw any of your friends' use there's?"

"I've never particularly challenged my friends to a serious fight and would a vampire even be stupid enough to attack a group of hunters?" Sasuke glanced at the boy shrugging slightly,

"If they're desperate enough."

"Well sorry I didn't get technical." Naruto pouted, then smiled as they finally reached the store; and like a kid in a candy store he ran into the store, diving into the racks of clothing and surprising the raven.

"Hn," Sasuke mumbled watching the blonde as he stopped at the nearest rack, pulling at the clothes. Sasuke looked at him curiously, but overall ignored the action and moved to the rack opposite of the boy.

Naruto turned glancing at Sasuke, he hadn't thought about it but, after seeing his reaction, maybe Naruko was a touchy subject for him too. He did seem more distant now, even though it was something as vague as Naruko's powers. Naruto stopped admiring the clothes again, granted he wasn't even really looking at them as he found his eyes following Sasuke again. Maybe that was why Sasuke never talked about it, not to piss Naruto off but just avoid the subject. Naruto turned back to the clothes, in time then, Sasuke was his bodyguard so they'd spend more time together, and maybe one day they'd be close enough that Sasuke would freely talk about it. How close Naruko and Sasuke were, maybe Naruto could get to that point. It wasn't a bad idea, Sasuke was renowned and strong; it couldn't be too bad to have him as an ally. Naruto pulled at one of the shirts, it showed vampire fangs with the words, _DON'T DENY THE BITE! _Naruto's eyes went big as he violently swiped to the next shirt. What was he thinking!? Sasuke, he, Sasuke, he was a vampire! Why would Naruto want to be his friend, why was he even here, why couldn't he remember, why couldn't he listen to himself! This guy was a vampire! A fucking bloodsucker! What was wrong with Naruto? Sasuke had killed people! Naruto stopped, that never occurred to him. Was it because Sasuke told him about the blood banks? Sasuke was old enough it'd be weird for him not to have drained people. So what exactly was Naruto doing there? Talking on and pretending it was all okay? And still, why couldn't he despise Sasuke, why couldn't he completely and utterly despise the raven even though he was a bloodsucker, a killer, why was he so happy about spending the rest of his day like this? He stared down slightly, disappointed in his own naivety. He shook his head slightly, moving to the next shirt, who was he even kidding anymore? One vampire. Just one, maybe it was okay for now. If it someday meant information on Naruko and for information on his parents. He unconsciously set a t-shirt aside, Sasuke had his own standards didn't he? He had his own limits and rules; he was on a leash, so he could never do anything to Naruto, or his friends, or Iruka and Kakashi or anyone he knew. So it was fine right? Naruko had trusted him so why couldn't Naruto at least deal with him. How sad was he, letting a vampire shake his interior so much, and how sad was he for being okay with it. As long as nothing changed, as long as Sasuke followed those rules then everything was okay as it was. Naruto just had to go through the motions, and once Sasuke strayed and the other foot dropped Naruto would be ready. So for now, it was okay like this, right? "How about this?" He called to the raven. Sasuke turned looking at what'd he chosen. First, a striped dark-red and white t-shirt which reached to Sasuke's shoulders, with a gray-black jacket that zipped up, with a hood hanging off the back and a red cross on the left pectoral then finally a pair of black jeans.

"Not bad for a Claire's guy." Sasuke smirked gathering up the outfit.

"Teme!" Naruto exclaimed, embarrassed then he sighed awkwardly rubbing his head, "You know, for you something as simple as a long sleeved darker colored shirt, or even a white button-up would look nice. Granted if you wore a white-button up it would look better with a dark jacket. You're so pale any dark color would fit nicely. Oh! Or try a black undershirt with a white low v-neck and black pull-over! Oh! Oh! Or-" Naruto stopped as he caught sight of Sasuke's teasing glare, and went a bright red.

"Well someone knows clothes," Sasuke teased, giving a slight smirk.

"Ah! Shut up teme!" Naruto exclaimed.

"No, _please, _go on." Sasuke said emphasizing the please and pissing Naruto off all the more.

"Teme!" Naruto exclaimed once again, catching the attention of those around them. He looked at all the eyes now stuck to him, and pretending not to notice them he returned to the racks, looking for more clothes to fit the raven.

Sasuke used his hand to cover his mouth, in an attempt to hide the small chuckle forcing its way through his lips; he really just couldn't help it anymore. He glanced at the time, it was almost already 4:00, and at this rate he wouldn't make it to the meeting. It wasn't like the meeting was about the council or anything, it was actually a work meeting, just some allied companies welcoming the promotion of their 'new' CEO. Granted he's been CEO before, about 200 years before, but still. He sighed, it really wasn't that important and he couldn't exactly leave when they hadn't even really accomplished what they came to do. He pulled out his phone dialing his secretary.

"Uchiha Corporations, how may I help you?"

"It's Sasuke."

"Ah sir, good afternoon."

"Afternoon, I need you to give my condolences, something has come up and I won't be able to attend the meeting."

"Understood sir."

"Thank you." He finished, hanging up the phone. Then looking up as Naruto had a large number of clothes draped over his arm, gathering up more. He struggled not to laugh at the blonde struggling to handle all the clothes. "Need help?" He asked, walking over to the boy.

"Try these on!" Naruto demanded, throwing all of the clothes into the vampire's hands.

"Whoa! Wait." Sasuke began but was simply pushed towards the changing rooms. He inaudibly moaned, now he remembered the main reason he avoided clothes shopping up till now. He glanced over, a bright orange long-sleeved shirt catching his eye. All he could wonder is who would wear that, then his eyes caught sight or an annoyingly bright Naruto. He looked between the two and shrugged. Dropping his clothes off in the changing room and walking to the shirt. He sighed comparing the orange to a nearby black jacket. He grabbing the two and threw them on the blondes head, nonchalantly returning to the dressing room.

Naruto froze as the clothes surprised him. He pulled them off, glancing back as Sasuke returned to the changing room, he laughed slightly at the gesture, smiling as he compared the clothes to his body type.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

Sasuke and Naruto stood at the cashier as the woman behind the counter rung them up. Naruto pulled out his wallet, pulling out the cash for his clothes, having gotten much more than he planned and wasn't even sure he had enough. "Damn the mall is expensive!" He mumbled.

"It's fine." Sasuke said.

"Hmm?" Naruto questioned looking at the raven.

"It's too much work to pay separately, I'll just pay for your stuff."

"Thanks, then here." Naruto said handing his money to the man.

"Don't worry about it." Sasuke replied blowing off Naruto's gesture.

"No way, you know how expensive that is!?" Naruto exclaimed.

"It comes to about 400 with all our stuff, how's that expensive?" Naruto stopped and frowned, angrily muttering,

"Damn bloodsucking spoiled teme with his stupid money and successful fucking company." Sasuke smirked at the reply, "Where next?"

"I think we've gotten enough clothes," Sasuke replied.

"Yeah." Naruto replied, despite it though he was rather disheartened. He buried the odd feeling, gathering up the bags of clothes as Sasuke paid.

As they left Naruto noticed Sasuke looking at the receipt, "What is it?" He questioned, leaning over to peak at the receipt and noticing the long number at the bottom, "So the girl gave you her number?" Naruto asked, his tone more upset than he intended. He shook his head surprised, what was that? The same as earlier wasn't it? Jealously? Naruto was jealous again. This time though, he knew why, Sasuke got more girls than him! He was jealous of the teme's game. He sighed, not like it mattered anyway. "You gonna call her?" Naruto asked.

"Hn," Sasuke simply replied, ripping the girl's number off of the receipt and throwing it away.

"Well that was rude." Naruto joked, once again surprised by his uplifted tone, this time he didn't understand why, and for some reason he didn't think he wanted to know why. He shook his head, willing the thought away as he noticed an arcade. "We should go to the arcade," He unconsciously said.

"Hn? When do you gotta be back?" Sasuke questioned.

"It should be fine since you're here too," Naruto replied, "But I should probably call." Naruto replied as he pulled out his phone.

Sasuke surveyed the boy, he didn't want to make things awkward or uncomfortable, the more Naruto trusted him the less complicated things would be and that was that, at least, for now, that's what he'd believe.

"Iruka-sensei, its Naruto."

"Where are you?! You should've been back hours ago! It's nearly six!"

"Sorry Iruka-sensei, Sasuke and I ended up hanging out at the mall. I was just wondering if we could stay out a bit longer."

"Its fine I guess, but don't forget you have school tomorrow."

"I know, but I'm learning more with Sasuke than I ever did in school so."

"Naruto!"

"It's true."

"You ungrateful!" Naruto listened to the small laugh that came across the phone. "Fine, fine, you're good. Have fun."

"Okay, later."

"Later."

_~/Iruka P.O.V/~_

"What was that about? You look pretty happy." Kakashi said.

"Yeah I really am," Iruka smiled.

"So where's Naruto?"

"He's with Sasuke. Believe it or not, willingly!" Iruka smiled, his eyes watering.

"Oh really?" Kakashi questioned.

"Finally Kakashi, finally," Iruka smiled, closing his eyes as he wiped his hand down his face, stopping as he covered his mouth, falling to his knees in relief.

"What?"

"He's finally opening up, thank god, thank whatever being made this possible." Iruka prayed, sniffling.

"Sasuke," Kakashi joked.

Iruka have a small laugh, wiping at the tears streaming down his face, "What's with these Uzumaki-Namikaze's and Sasuke. I'll never understand why they're always so attracted to him, but we owe him, so much!"

"What do you expect from the Uchihas?" Kakashi joked.

"I don't even care if it was an Uchiha, I'm so, so happy right now. I don't understand how Sasuke did it and at this point I couldn't care, Naruto opening up to a vampire. What sorcery," Iruka laughed between his sniffles.

"So now, when will we tell him about us?"

"What about us?" Iruka asked.

"We're vampires or we're lovers, either or,"

"Pretty sure he already knows about one of those but still. I want Sasuke to decide when we should say something. At this point I'm content with him opening up to anyone."

"So how long will the lovebirds be?" Kakashi asked.

"Haha, now that would be something to see. Sasuke and Naruto, I really can't see it but what I would do to see it. Granted I'd definitely kill Sasuke." Iruka laughed slightly. "They said maybe an hour or so."

"Hmm, small margin but I can deal." Kakashi smiled, knelling next to Iruka and using a gentle hand to brush away his lover's tears.

"Small margin for what?" Iruka questioned.

"Celebration." Kakashi smirked, pulling his lover into his arms.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

"How the hell dude!" Naruto exclaimed as the two stood in front of one of the games. Sasuke shrugged, typing his name into the leadership board. "Okay, my turn!" Naruto exclaimed pushing Sasuke aside and depositing his tokens. "I will not lose this time" He told himself and concentrated on the game. Sasuke spared a glance at the clothes, situated next to the arcade game. His attention brought back to the blonde as he went on, "Left, left, left!" He exclaimed then cheered. "Haha fucker! Wait, wait! No!" He sighed, "Damn" He finished, moving aside so Sasuke could try.

"Dobe you suck" Sasuke frowned.

"What was that teme!?" Naruto yelled.

"Keep it down dobe." Sasuke replied glaring at the eyes now following the two. "Anyway you're just moving the guy too much. It's not gonna help you anyway by hitting the buttons harder. See look," Sasuke explained moving so Naruto could see his hands. "See when you're about to be hit, you lightly move the handle and move enough that you just avoid the bullet, then move back. You dive right into the bullets but you need to find a single space with limited attacks being directed there. Here try," Sasuke said moving out of the way, and letting Naruto take control of the game. "Okay, forward, little lighter, back, good." Sasuke leaned his arm around Naruto, to the left, pressing it against the other side of the arcade game, shifting his weight onto that arm but still keeping his eyesight over Naruto's right shoulder.

"Now what genius!?" Naruto exclaimed as he was cornered within the game.

"Move forward, no, no, you idiot!" Sasuke went on quickly grabbing the handle over Naruto's hand and yanking the handle in two quick sharp movements, to the left then forward.

"Hah~ Good catch teme," Naruto sighed then awkwardly shifted. Feeling Sasuke's arm lightly pushed against his left side, the vampires' body pushed against his back and his chilling hand set against his own. It was awkward, uncomfortable but at the same time Naruto was secretly more accepting of the contact than he would ever openly admit. Maybe because he knew Sasuke was his bodyguard, so it was safe, right?

"Okay now move here." Sasuke said moving Naruto's hand over the handle.

"But what about," Naruto asked using his free hand to point to something on the screen, leading to him accidentally pushing himself further into Sasuke's hold.

"Just," Sasuke followed, moving Naruto's hand once more.

"Oh okay," Naruto replied.

Sasuke looked down, getting a face-full of fluffy blonde hair. Catching him off guard as the enticing scent spiked his senses. He was stuck between pushing the blonde away and sinking his teeth into the pale flesh. He finally felt the warm skin making his fingers tingle, the slight pressure on his torso that shaped with his body so perfectly; and the overwhelming scent pushing at his control. It smelt fresh, like the time after a rain-storm but with a mix of slight honey and caramel; it was fresh but sweet, overwhelmingly so. He felt himself stiffen slightly, concentrating on the sensation; he wanted a taste. He took a quick sniff, relishing in the smell, how could one little bite hurt?

"Sasuke?" Sasuke was brought back from his thoughts, slightly pushing away from the blonde, not enough the blonde would misinterpret it as an insult or make things awkward but enough he was no longer buried in the blonde's smell.

"Hn?" Sasuke questioned looking down at the blonde.

"We won." Naruto said pointing to the screen.

"See it's easy," Sasuke replied, moving away from the blonde completely cutting off any precious contact.

"Tch. You're just inhuman teme," Naruto replied. Then turned away as he looked back at the screen, struggling to hide his crimson face. That had been so embarrassing! When the game finished Sasuke just stood there! He didn't move or anything! It took Naruto nearly a minute to realize Sasuke had zoned out again, and that entire minute they were just there, in each other's embrace; his face went darker. In each other's embrace; hah, what a joke!

"Hn dobe," Sasuke replied. "We should probably start heading back." He checked the time, it was almost 7:30, they had about an hour before it started getting dark and it took about half-an-hour to get back to Naruto's. "Yeah"

"Okay, but we're coming back here and even if it kills me I'll find a way to beat you're score!"

"Hn, please." Sasuke said sarcastically

"Teme," Naruto mumbled.

"Dobe," Sasuke finished as he gathered their bags.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

"So even you can have _some_ fun." Naruto joked as Sasuke drove him back.

"Hn."

"Hey, hey,"

"Yeah?"

"You should let me drive tomorrow!"

"Like hell."

"Guessed as much." Naruto frowned, shifting uncomfortably at the silence, "Say is there anything else I should know?"

"About?"

"Vampires, hunters, powers, all that fun stuff?"

"I'm pretty sure you at least got the basics."

"I guess." Naruto replied, leaning back in the seat seemingly contemplating something, "So how much does having, or not having, powers affect a hunter's abilities?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well in class I'm the best at hand-to-hand combat. We've never really concentrated on spiritual skill, or well magical or whatever you wanna call it."

"The technical term would be chakra, it's basically the molding of both physical and spiritual energy allowing you to manifest it in different forms, usually based in the bloodlines."

"So spiritual skill, anyway, I'm the best at hand-to-hand combat out of all my classmates but I've never really learned the spiritual aspect of hunting whereas my friends have, so am I at a disadvantage or well, am I _weak_ compared to them?" Sasuke looked Naruto over curiously but shrugged the odd behavior off,

"Well using your bloodline abilities is really a kind of weapon built into your very core, and you can control it to synch with your own skills. Honestly, yes, you're extremely weak compared to your friends. You can fight, hand-to-hand, I've seen that, also you're human senses are extremely enhanced; but you're sword fighting is easily defeated, you have no powers, weak sensing, you are behind." Naruto seemed to flinch as each word hit him, he never realized it himself. Of course he understood, to an extent, that certain people had something more than him but for the most part he's never been in a situation where someone else has used their powers and blatantly proved to him there was something more he didn't know. He hadn't even realized his own weakness. . .

"Sasuke you said you have bloodline abilities right?"

"Yeah?" Sasuke replied getting slightly suspicious of the conversations direction.

"How would I learn what I could do?"

"I don't really know. Each family has their own way of awaking their innate abilities. For you I'd say ask someone you know who has a connection to your family. Iruka and Kakashi don't have any abilities but they might know some tricks or picked up something. Jiraiya or Tsunade maybe?" Naruto looked at Sasuke, Jiraiya was never around, Tsunade was busy with her Hokage work so who else was there. Someone who was strong, with connections to his family, free time and he knew he would be able to get ahold of and the answer really pissed him off. He slightly groaned to himself, but it wasn't as bad as he wanted to make himself believe. He'd realized today that he loved their conversations, where they continuously insulted each other but no matter how much they said it the words kept some unspoken meaning and no trace of insult. And even when everyone though Sasuke was a complete and utter bastard Naruto could see that different side once again; Sasuke had answered every question Naruto had had even when he was uncomfortable with the topic; instead of looking for his own clothes, like they were there to do, he'd got Naruto a bunch while Naruto looked for clothes for him then Sasuke paid for all of Naruto's clothes; and when Sasuke had helped Naruto play that arcade game, the way their bodies so perfectly fit together and despite how cold Sasuke's skin was Naruto had oddly been so comfortable and warm, the thought that would never leave Naruto, that'd he never admit to and that made him blush without fail. Naruto could complain, whine and lie to himself all he wanted. But now he knew he didn't hate Sasuke, and for some reason he'd never be able to. Maybe it was the cold demeanor that hid a surprisingly sincere heart, or that small smirk that Naruto was so happy at seeing, even more so being the cause of; whether it was the constant small remarks that pissed Naruto off so much or the constant embarrassment that forced itself onto Naruto whenever the raven was around. Sure he could never accept Sasuke as a vampire, but as a person maybe he wasn't so bad.

"Could you train me?" Sasuke turned to the boy, surprise making itself known on his normally dead face. "I mean you gotta know something and no one else is really available." Sasuke surveyed the boy, it wasn't the worst idea he's ever heard. Really, it was kinda uncomfortable because of how much Naruto and Naruko looked alike. A lot of memories would come to him whenever he was with Naruto. Memories he didn't want to see. A lot of the stuff he did, he finally realized why, because Naruto was so much like Naruko. Yet so different. Naruto was so much louder, so much more dynamic and he would always smile. Naruko would smile like that, but she held more of her father's composure, his sincere aura. Naruto was so much like his mother, so different from Naruko in that way. Sasuke understood now, from the very beginning, he didn't want to see it, but now he couldn't not see it. How alike they were, but also how much different they were. It's been a while since someone _forced _a laugh from him. And it was something unique to Naruto, his personality and actions, which forced a laugh from Sasuke. He was _scared._ Naruto was already chipping away at Sasuke's shell, faster than even Naruko. He understood that Naruto wasn't Naruko, that Sasuke shouldn't let him in. But those similarities kept Sasuke weak and those differences forced Sasuke to accept Naruto. Naruto was _dangerous, _being with him was _dangerous, _the faster Sasuke got rid of him the better it would be. Yet Sasuke wasn't sure how he felt about that, and if he let things stay as they were then of course they wouldn't be around each other as much but they'd be together longer and if Sasuke said yes then they'd be together a lot more, and the likelihood of Iruka even letting Sasuke get out sooner was close to zero.

"You're getting a little too comfortable with me." Sasuke spoke.

"Hey you invited me out." Sasuke looked at the blonde, he had invited him out. The look of sadness and anxiety so evident on the boy's face had hurt Sasuke, and it just wouldn't go away as long as the look was on Naruto's face. So he tried to cheer him up, make things better for _both _of them. Because he looked like Naruko, because that depression was so uncommon on his otherwise cheerful façade. No matter what Sasuke had done, for some reason or another that look would return. It _hurt_. Still, though he'd never say it, he had enjoyed himself. Whether it was all of the less than subtle insults, that held no venom, or the constant stares caused by the blonde's loud demeanor; how excited Naruto had gotten as they looked at the clothes and created the several outfits or how every time Sasuke gave Naruto clothes he would stand for a minute, smiling stupidly as he compared the clothes to his own body type; maybe it was how at the arcade he would constantly curse the games yet when they had been pushed together, despite everything, Naruto was the calmest Sasuke had ever seen him and he had simply melted under Sasuke's hold. Though he knew Naruto would never admit it, and Sasuke would never admit to feeling a similar comfort.

"Because it was convenient dobe."

"This would be too right? I mean once I can protect myself, and convince Iruka I don't need a babysitter, ah, bodyguard, my bad."

"Smartass." Sasuke mumbled to the blonde's amusement. _Subtle insults that held no venom_.

"But it works right? The quicker we convince him the faster we can get out of each other's lives." Naruto smiled, but it didn't seem genuine. Though he meant to act in his usual loud and dynamic demeanor, his words came out low and awkward. Even more a familiar knot came to his stomach, he felt sick, for some reason it'd been happening a lot to. _The look Sasuke couldn't seem to get rid of, and every time he saw it, it made him feel just as sick. _

Sasuke turned surveying the boy, either way, at some point he had to learn. And maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be as bad as they thought it would be. "Fine, I'll train you."

* * *

Fav, follow, review. I'd enjoy feedback because I was really unsure about this chapter.

Last chapter we kinda see Naruto and Sasuke accept each other. Then in this chapter, now that they've accepted each other they started feeling the first brushes of love and overcoming the thing they hate the most and seeing each other more subjectively. Naruto is seeing Sasuke as more of a person and Sasuke is seeing Naruto as Naruto instead of his relation to Naruko.

But I kinda felt like this chapter was too rushed or more that I just suddenly dived into their feelings rather than giving them time. But the story has happened over a series of months, up to this point it's been more than half a year since the first chapter, so in that way I feel this is long overdue. And when I was trying to think of maybe more of a lead in to this point I was completely stuck, because I felt this was appropriate and when I went back and reread it (Yes the entire story, like twice _ part of the reason it took me so long to upload cause I was really unsure about it) it sounded right to me. So I don't know, so please tell me what you think.

No but we were on a small road trip, about 3 hours in the car, and I was writing the arcade scene, and my brother was right next to me reading it over my shoulder. And it was really awkward then at one point I think he realized I was just doing my gay thing and decided not to continue on.


	11. Chapter 10

Please excuse this chapter while I go jump off of a bridge.

So I finished the chapter about two weeks ago, then my computer died before I saved it and my autosave didn't save the final draft (which was basically the entire second half of the story and all edits I made to the first half.) So I redid all that (it was just great) and properly saved it. Then yesterday I completely ditched my homework and read through it and edited some final parts (through FanFiction) so I could finally submit it and my internet failed so everything I changed didn't get saved. So please excuse this chapter if it's absolutely horrible. But I have re-read and re-gone through this chapter so many times I have memorized it's contents.

Either way, I hope you enjoy it. Finally getting some information about the Akatsuki and the Council.

* * *

"Hey." Naruto said as he threw his school bags into the back seat. By habit, he walked around the car casually sliding into the passenger's seat as he pulled his seat belt on.

"Hn." Sasuke mumbled in acknowledgment as he began driving from the school.

Naruto pouted, "School was horrible! Anko-Sensei gave us a pop quiz, I mean it was out of nowhere, who does that? Either way though, I'm pretty sure I failed it." Naruto gave a small innocent laugh as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"What was it on?"

"The human body, and I have no idea about that kind of stuff. How would you even use that knowledge when hunting?" Naruto questioned.

"Depends. If you don't have a medic on your team then you need to know it, in case someone gets hurt."

"But it's not like she's teaching us how to treat a wound."

"Well there's a difference between getting a wound in your shoulder and in your stomach. You need to know those differences and be able to know what has been struck before making your next move or you could possibly make the situation worse."

"Meh." Naruto uninterestingly shrugged. Sasuke shook his head slightly. "Hm?" Naruto turned, looking around at the unfamiliar setting, "Where are we going?"

"My house." Naruto gaped,

"W-w-what!? W-why?!"

"Your training starts today."

"Ah, um, oh, oh right. . ." Naruto mumbled shaking his head.

"You told Iruka ahead of time, right?"

"Umm, I think." Sasuke turned to the blonde, who just shrugged. "Its fine, its fine."

"Hn." Naruto gave a small laugh as he scratched his head awkwardly.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

"Wow." Naruto exclaimed as he looked up at the mansion.

Sasuke spared a glance at the wide-eyed blonde then turned his attention to the road, stopping as he typed a code into the keypad next to the gate. Giving the gate time to open, he drove through the opening, down the curved gravel path.

"Geez Uchiha." Naruto breathed looking at the raven. Sasuke looked at the awe-struck blonde, resisting the urge to laugh at the scene. He slowed the car, positioning it into the garage. The blonde looking at him with disappointment as they entered the restricted space, leaving the breathtaking imagery behind.

"Hn?"

"Nothing." Naruto pouted, upset he could no longer stare in wonder at the landscape.

"Come on." Sasuke called moving towards the door. Naruto hesitantly got out of the car, following after him. When the first room they met was a laundry room he was pleasantly surprised yet extremely disappointed. _I expected some large, over-bearing, awe-inspiring gothic design. But this looks pretty normal- ah, wait, nope, nevermind. I was wrong, this is what I was expecting. _Naruto looked around the large living room, it wasn't exactly gothic but it was as extravagant as he expected. It was two floors tall with elongated curving stairs along the left side of the room, Naruto and Sasuke entering from the front. Naruto walked forward, hesitantly following Sasuke across the wooden floor. They moved down two stairs into a lower section that Naruto deduced was the living room, or something similar. The lower section had tan carpet, with a long, brown, leather couch curving along the right wall and back of the smaller section. It was large enough to fit seven people, the left end having a foot rest. Then there was a much smaller couch, with only enough room for two people, along the left. There was enough space between the two couches to enter the room though. There was a large brown wooden coffee table in the middle, with intricate designs along the sides. In the front there was a glass fireplace, with a large screen TV above it. On the back of the room, along the entire back wall were several two story windows. The bottom story had a large, rectangular window, with similar shaped, slightly smaller windows at each side. Though they were cut into smaller squares. The second floor had semi-circular windows. They were in complete symmetry with their lower level counterparts, the two opposing having small squares in the windows. This design repeated across the back. Through the window Naruto could see a lot of forestry and a small section of what he deduced was a large underground pool.

"If you have anything you don't want to get dirty, leave it here." Naruto looked down at his clothing, it was an outfit he had bought when he and Sasuke went shopping and he didn't particularly care for getting any of it dirty. He looked at Sasuke, who was curiously eyeing the blonde. Naruto flushed red as he grabbed the corners of his shirt, he looked at Sasuke hoping to signal for the raven to look away. Sasuke didn't get the hint and still kept his eyes on the blonde, waiting for the blonde to follow him from the room. Naruto hesitantly pulled his shirt off revealing his white tank-top, feeling himself grow all that more embarrassed as he felt Sasuke's always sharp gaze. Ignoring it, he tossed his shirt onto the couch and looked back at Sasuke; the raven leaning on the doorframe that led from the living room, the door pushed against the left wall closer to the front of the room.

"What?" Naruto exclaimed as he blushed.

"Nothing." Sasuke replied he went through the door.

"Teme." Naruto mumbled as he followed the raven. The next room he knew was the entrance hall. It was large, with white walls and a wooden floor. There were two sets of stairs, the one on the left curving to the right as it reached the second floor; and the right curving to the left. The top floor had a balcony looking down to the entrance hall. There was a small circular table in the middle with a large bouquet on the table. There were two brown leather love seats on the inner sides of the stairs. Naruto followed Sasuke towards the back of the entrance hall where two large, elegant doors stood proudly. Sasuke pushed the doors open, moving to let Naruto through. Naruto stopped at the doors, staring in awe at the image in front of him. The pool scaled the entire house, it was the size of a small lake in Naruto's opinion. There were rock-like structures pushes against the houses walls on the left of the pool. Water rushed down the structures in the form of a waterfall. There was a small section of water in the left corner of the patio, behind the pool, to which Naruto guessed was a hot tub. They left the patio through the back screen, finally coming to the back yard. There was a large fence surrounding the section that belonged to the Uchiha, which was enormous to Naruto, then the back was cut off by forestry. Surrounding the screen was a neatly placed, yet ironically wild, expanse of flowers and plants.

"Is this your version of a garden?" Naruto asked moving to admire the plants.

"Yeah, we don't really have time to care for plants." Sasuke replied.

"With all of this money and space you at least need a garden. Granted what's here is still beautiful." Naruto smiled as he bent down next to the plants, lightly caressing the leaves.

"Does it matter?" Sasuke questioned, he felt something ache as he was met by the oddly gentle look on the blonde's face. Naruto rubbed the plant's leaves, petting the flowers as if they would break with the slightest pressure, and careful as could be, he slightly backed away, turning to face Sasuke.

"Of course it does!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke brushed the comment, along with the ache, off; signaling for the blonde to follow him. Naruto ran after the raven, stopping close behind him. Sasuke faced him, slightly backing away from the blonde.

"Okay let's make two things clear Naruto. One, I will attack you with just enough force to defeat you and two, even if you're on the ground I will not stop going after you. In this way you will be forced to overcome your limits and surpass them."

"Oh, and what makes you so positive you can so easily beat me?" Naruto cockily replied.

"Well experience, age, strength," Sasuke cockily followed. Naruto looked ready to retort but he was stopped by Sasuke, "For now we're going to work on your hand-to-hand combat. Since we don't know what specific techniques your family used to release their bloodline abilities we'll have to use force. It's much harsher, but it usually cuts back on time. I know you pride yourself on your physique but you can always improve. Understood?"

"I'm not a child, let's go already!" Naruto exclaimed; ready to knock the raven down a step for his previous comment.

"Hn." Sasuke looked at Naruto carefully, surveying the blonde's stance and, seeing nothing he perceived to be troublesome, he launched forward. Naruto dodged, slightly surprised by the raven's speed. Sasuke spun, moving to kick Naruto, however his foot was caught by the blonde, granted the force threw Naruto back. Sasuke stopped as Naruto went to regain his footing. "I will give you advice and corrections in your fighting style as we fight. However whether you retain what I tell you or not is up to you. First, I've clearly stated I will exert a force that is above your own and at this point I don't know how you fight so I might give too much or too little. You don't know. In those situations where you are fighting hand-to-hand and have no knowledge of your partners skill don't defend and don't attack, dodge. As displayed by my attack, once you defended, the force I exerted threw you to your knees; when fighting a random opponent try as hard as you can to keep from touching them until you can discern their level of skill and compare it to your own."

"How do I do that?" Naruto questioned as he stood up, rubbing at the scrapes on his arms that were caused by Sasuke's kick.

"Well you must dissect your opponent's moves, and from that discern their skill level. Don't worry too much about that though, as I change my own strength when fighting you, your body will subconsciously learn when you're fighting someone stronger or someone weaker. As for when to attack, dodge, and defend, you'll have to understand from experience. It's really the same concept however you subconsciously learn the strength others give off and compare it to your own but you must learn what to consciously do with that information."

"So it's like when you ride a bike? You subconsciously know how to keep your balance but you consciously have to keep your balance."

"Kind of I guess. More you're subconsciously afraid of the dark, or snakes, or whatever you're afraid of. You don't know why and you don't know how it starts but that fear exists. In this lesson that is what your body subconsciously learns about a person's skill level, you will fear those stronger than yourself and look down on those weaker. Now in the way of fear, consciously you either turn the light on, ignore your fear; run from the snake or kill the snake. In this lesson you consciously must defend, dodge or attack based on what your body has subconsciously learned about your opponent. Fight or flight. Utilizing your natural intuition."

"My natural intuition." Naruto repeated to himself.

"Granted that's a much broader subject that I can't directly help you with. Your intuition and your ability to sense are directly reflected on how you grow as a person, not a fighter. From what I've heard you have pretty strong physical senses."

"Physical senses?"

"Touch, taste, smell, sight, hear."

"I think so, at least." Naruto replied, unsure.

"Think about it like you have spiritual senses over physical. This sense immediately singles out your opponents, and compares the amount of power they release to your own; it warns you when these abnormal power levels are nearby. For instance I've lived long enough my ability to sense and perceive is beyond the level that a mortal hunter can achieve. I can tell you there are 23 birds within a mile radius of here. There's an ant pile about three and a half inches from where you're standing with about 15,000 ants. Not to freak you out but there's four human corpses in the forest one of which is a skeleton. Even as a skeleton our body gives off a slight aura. Of course, only Itachi and I have lived long enough to grow our perception to such a level; it's absolutely impossible for a hunter due to your limited lifespan."

"That's creepy as hell. Like seriously why are there human corpses in the damn forest, were we still in a mile radius?"

"Of course." Sasuke replied with a cocky tone, "Though the corpses have accumulated over the last couple hundred years."

"And who's Itachi, I recognize the name but. . ."

"He's my older brother and also a member of the council. You need to know that. The council consist mostly of hunters and then two vampires. Of course the vampires are part of Konoha's Noble Clans."

"Noble Clans?"

"The Senju, the Uzumaki, the Uchiha and the Hyuuga. Seriously what do you learn in that school."

"Why are they considered Noble Clans? I mean I kinda get it I guess. The Senju created the Council, then the Uchiha seem pretty old and almighty with what you've said but what about the Hyuuga, who are they? And why is my Clan seen so highly?"

"I'll tell you all that someday but we're getting way off topic here."

"At least tell me all of the council member's names!" Naruto begged.

"It's not that simple Naruto. Okay listen, there are eight clans who hold position on the council. It's not a single person or a single leader, it's the entire clan. Only when one clan dies off will another enter the council, usually the most prominent of the time. Your position on the council is decided by the head's age and experience. However the four Noble Clans always hold priority, once the four Noble Clans are passed it moves through the next five by age and experience. For instance, Ōnoki Kamizuru is currently the oldest leader however the Subaku's are the youngest. The Subaku's clan head died not too long ago and the next in line is Gaara Subaku because he is the oldest member of his family who has awakened a bloodline ability outside of the main elemental ones. but he is still too young to properly take over the name. Were something to happen to the four Noble Clans Ōnoki would become the next Hokage, and Gaara would be the last to take control."

"So who's all in the council?"

"Tsunade Senju; you should be but your too young, when you turn twenty-one you officially become part of the council and Tsunade steps down from the Hokage seat."

"Why is she stepping down?"

"She doesn't want to be Hokage, and technically you're the rightful heir because your father was the previous Hokage."

"Okay so Tsunade and myself, who else?"

"Itachi Uchiha, Hinata Hyuuga, Ōnoki Kamizuru, A Gyūki, Mei Terumi, Konohamaru Sarutobi and Gaara Subaku."

"Hmm, I don't really recognize the names. Well Gaara of course, then Itachi because you said who he was but. . ."

"Well the Hyuuga family is part of the four Noble Clans and a vampire clan. Hinata is their current head, she has been for about 800 years. Then you should also know Konohamaru, he was the third Hokage's grandson. Around that time the four Noble Clans were all in an unstable standing so the Hokage head passed over us to the less prominent Sarutobi Clan. The others are still notable characters but it's not a surprise you don't know them."

"Hmm, why were the Noble Clans unstable?"

"A lot of politics," Sasuke replied, getting a questioning look from Naruto who was waiting for Sasuke to elaborate. "Don't ask. Come on. Enough with your lessons, if you have questions write them down and ask me later. Before we continue stretch your body a bit, I'll be back." Naruto nodded slightly as Sasuke turned, retreating into the house.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

"Okay, let's get this over with," Sasuke called as he entered the backyard from the patio, throwing a water bottle at the blonde.

"Oh, thanks." Naruto smiled taking a quick swig.

"Now get up." Sasuke demanded.

"Bossy enough?" Naruto pouted as he forced himself to his feet.

"Watch out for the ant hill." Sasuke cockily called.

Naruto turned to see the ant hill behind his foot, letting out a little pout he moved to avoid it, while still facing Sasuke. "Okay, what now?"

Sasuke turned, running at the blonde, Naruto moved to avoid him surprised as Sasuke ducked and swiped his foot under Naruto's, throwing Naruto off balance. As soon as Naruto made contact with the ground Sasuke's foot was moving to make contact with the blonde's chest. Naruto rolled away from Sasuke, just barely avoiding the impact as he jumped to his feet, getting a responding fist to the face before he even got off of the ground, being thrown back onto his butt. "Whenever someone moves to hit you, no matter who is it, they are vulnerable for a single second. Their fist, or foot, is in the air, they can't stop or move, once they're committed you have a chance; it's not a big one but it's there."

"How?" Naruto asked as he once again got on his feet, "I mean the time in which they attack is so short."

"Intuition." Sasuke replied. "Now I want you to attack me."

"Oh are you gonna give me a chance teme."

"How's that pride, dobe?"

Naruto scowled at the raven, "Shut up."

"Come on, attack." Sasuke said motioning for the blonde to hit him. Naruto narrowed his eyes, but listened punching the raven. Sasuke caught Naruto's fist, twisting the blondes arm around and pulling it against his back.

"You teme!" Naruto cursed throwing back his left arm and elbowing Sasuke's shoulder then moving his free hand to punch Sasuke, forcing the raven to let him go.

"Not too bad." Sasuke smirked petting his mouth, where Naruto had hit him. "But when fighting a vampire try to avoid the mouth. Had another vampire had you in that position it wouldn't have taken much to bite you. Our only weak spots are the neck, the brain and the heart, that's where you wanna aim."

"I at least know all of that."

"Fine then, get me into a position that would otherwise kill me."

"No promises I won't kill you." Naruto replied as he cracked his knuckles. Sasuke gave a small nod.

"Let's see then." Naruto charged at the raven, jumping in the air and aiming for Sasuke's head. Sasuke caught the blonde's foot, putting pressure on the skin behind Naruto's knee and slamming the blonde into the ground. The blonde slightly whimpered when Sasuke touched the sensitive skin, only to groan in pain as the weight of his body shifted to his outstretched hands, which had just barely kept him from eating dirt. He clenched the dirt, shifting his body, he spun, using his opposite foot to kick Sasuke in the face.

"Use more force, don't worry about hurting me. That would've been the perfect chance for you to break my neck, keep in mind the force you exert and the opportunities that present themselves."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to kill you?"

"Like you could."

Naruto gave a small sigh as he sat up. Glancing at Sasuke he launched himself forward, throwing the raven back, only to be kneed in the stomach and thrown off. Naruto just barely caught himself as he lunged at Sasuke again, getting in a well-toned blow on the raven's stomach. Sasuke withheld the urge to groan due to the pain,

"Not bad. When fighting always remember the neck, head or heart encompasses your final blow however that doesn't mean you avoid every other region. Beat them down if you can't get a fatal hit in, however if you can, then end it. Be quick, if not then-," Sasuke grabbed Naruto's fist spinning him and once again smashing his face into the dirt. Naruto let out a painful cry, digging his nails into the ground he pushed himself forward kneeing Sasuke once more in the gut, grabbing the back of the raven's head and forcing it down as he elbowed the back of Sasuke's neck. Sasuke caught himself as he neared the ground, flipping forward and aiming to kick Naruto as he landed back on his feet. Naruto barely caught the raven's foot in his crossed arms, trying his best to protect his head as he pushed Sasuke's foot back. Sasuke landed on his knees, looking up to face the blonde. "I might have underestimated you." Naruto proudly smiled as he looked down at the raven. "Fine then." Sasuke spoke as he stood up, pulling his shirt off and throwing it aside. Naruto felt his blood pressure rise as he saw Sasuke's bare chest,

"Ever heard of a tanktop." Naruto mumbled embarrassingly.

"What does it matter?" Sasuke smirked, proudly flaunting his bare skin. Naruto froze, the small smile not going unnoticed and definitely not helping his already flushed state.

"Well I don't know, it'd be a shame if you burned." Naruto sarcastically replied, moving to look at the forestry, attempting to ignore his own embarrassment, or at least hide that fact from Sasuke.

"Well with the way your blood is rushing something certainly is bothering you." Sasuke smirked as the blonde flushed even more. Then Sasuke rushed forward, stopping so he was close enough to whisper in Naruto's ear, "Don't get distracted." Naruto's flushed state immediately calmed as he looked down, Sasuke's fist inches away from his stomach.

"Shi-." Naruto began but was stopped as Sasuke dug his fist into the boy's stomach, throwing him back with enough force he coughed up blood. Sasukes throat caught as the smell entered his nostrils and he struggled to push down his thirst.

"Let's take a break for now. We've been going at it for a while. We'll start up again in 10 minutes."

"No! Wait! I'm fine, let's go." Naruto exclaimed as he struggled to compose himself, forcing his words through muffled chokes.

"Well I need to stop." Sasuke replied, feeling a sudden spike of pain in his head, he shook his head willing the sensation away and turned back to the blonde, who had given in and was now lying on the ground, heaving away his exhaustion. Sasuke set a hand on his head, feeling him vampiric urges scratching just under his surface and forcing the pain back. Swallowing away his immortal instincts, he walked forward pushing away the odd feeling, and for better or worse, ignoring the sudden and unplanned crack in his control.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Uchiha." Neji spoke. Kakashi nodding in acknowledgment as he saw Sasuke enter Konoha High's Principals office.

"You know there's a huge difference between entering this office and the Hokage's office." Kakashi commented.

"Yeah it's definitely weird coming here when we have official business to discuss." Neji pouted.

"Know what happened?" Sasuke asked.

"Not a clue. Oh I heard you're training Naruto now?" Neji joked.

"He asked, granted he's not a bad fighter."

"You complimenting someone, how rare." Kakashi smirked.

"It wasn't a compliment just a statement."

"Ouch." Kakashi mumbled.

"Where's Tsunade?" Sasuke asked, changing the subject.

"She should be coming." Kakashi replied. The three looked up as the office door opened, Tsunade entering the office. The three immediately jumped to attention as they saw her, her face grim and serious, heightening the three's awareness. She paced past the three taking a seat behind her desk, signaling for Kakashi, Neji and Sasuke to sit.

"As it stands you three are the highest level association members we have in Konoha therefore I do not want what I say to leave this room." The three hesitantly nodded as Tsunade went on, "About one year ago the ANBU found evidence that the organization Akatsuki was rebuilding its ranks. I immediately dispatched a team of highly trained ANBU captains to follow and report how the Akatsuki moved from there on. For the last year we have been recording and analyzing every movement they have made. We have not seen one thing that alerted us to some alternative motive and therefore have kept their rebuilding a secret. That was until two days ago. The team that had been following the Akatsuki were found dead and the entire association, outside of Konoha, were sent into high alert and tasked with tracking down the Akatsuki. Yesturday, in Iwagakure, Ōnoki Kamizuru tracked down the Akatsuki and found that they were hiding out within his village. He and a team of elites went after the group, however they were defeated. Ōnoki was the only one to survive the encounter and is currently in the hospital at our base in the Fire Kingdom's capital."

"Good thing that old man is so well built." Kakashi finally spoke.

"Where are they now?" Sasuke asked.

"We don't know." Tsunade replied, hesitantly shaking her head.

"Okay then where have they been, based on your surveillance?" Neji asked.

"Amegakure." Tsunade replied.

"Returning to their origins then?" Kakashi sighed as he sat up.

"Amegakure really has no relation to the Akatsuki though. Their origins were within the Uchiha, Amegakure was an important base for them but not enough to return without a reason. They wanted you to find them." Neji concluded.

"What do you mean? They want to kill Naruto, at least, so they can clean up what they started. That we're positive of." Tsunade interjected.

"Are you so sure?" Sasuke questioned, "We still do not understand their motive for killing the Uzummaki-Namikaze's. They were the head of the council at the time, yes, but still that sent everyone after the Akatsuki. They were risking a lot by doing that and they basically lost all of their members. Only to gain nothing in the end."

"He's right Tsunade. I don't think it's smart to do anything until we understand their objectives. Even sending the ANBU after them was rather ignorant." Kakashi said, getting a responding glare from the already temperamental blonde.

"Then what exactly do you propose Kakashi?" She scowled at the vampire.

"We're just saying that when the Akatsuki first began their objective was to pass the leadership of the association to the Uchiha's, then using that influence turn the tide in favor of the vampires. After the Uchiha's and Akatsuki went to war, and the Akatsuki were sent into exile, they resolved to destroy the entire organization." Sasuke explained.

"Which of course is impossible; with the way the association is set up now, the seat moves through the council families by experience and renown of the clan's leaders. The only exceptions being between the Noble Clans, the Noble Hunter Clans move ahead of the Noble Vampire clans. Then when Kushina married Minato, as a male who was related to the Uzumaki clan, even through marriage, he took rank. Then when a clan head dies or hands over position the order is redone. Then if for some reason the entire council and the clans associated with the members are wiped out, the head moves to a prominent clan that's rising to power and was chosen by the last council member. Then that clan choses the next head, if they're to be wiped out and on and on." Neji followed.

"So what exactly are you saying?" Tsunade repeated.

"We're missing something. From what we know about the Akatsuki nothing they have done up till this point has coincided with their previous goals." Sasuke laid out.

"You don't think I understand that Uchiha?" Tsunade cursed. She would never curse the Vampire Species, but something she'd long noticed within their kind was their overwhelming ability to keep a secret, and their constant lack of trust in another, mainly hunters. Granted such traits had long faded from the younger generations but the elders of the species still held a deep rooted anger for past times and, despite that, she had no choice but to constantly work with them for the sake of the association. And though she'd never admit it, such behavior often made her biased against them. Granted. times had changed them as well, not enough for her to change her opinion though.

"If they were going after Naruto Tsunade don't you think they already would've, it's been eighteen years since they did something. They could've gone after Naruto if they were that desperate to kill him. They could've done anything in those eighteen years. Maybe they were waiting for the association to settle down so they could recruit new members without interference. But we thought we'd completely wiped out the Akatsuki so they could've moved a lot quicker, surprised us and no one would've been able to act. But they waited eighteen years, started recruiting in a fashion that we caught on easily then dropped us just as easily and attacked Ōnoki. Either they have about as much of an idea of what they're doing as we do, something has happened in the Akatsuki that forced them to wait, like a change in leadership but there's no way in hell Obito's giving up his position, so the only other option is we're missing something." Neji finished.

"So you're saying you don't think their objective is to take out Naruto."

"How should we know? We're just telling you that in all this time they had several chances to take Naruto out, they have not taken a single one and have openly displayed themselves to us. Amegakure was the Akatsuki's main base. Why would they return to the location where we would look first if they didn't want to be found?" Kakashi questioned.

"If the Akatsuki did not wanna be found you wouldn't have found them. To just suddenly stumble onto their operation, you don't think that's questionable?" Sasuke asked.

"What are you thinking?" Tsunade asked. Sasuke slightly shrugged then continued.

"Honestly to me it all sounds like some elaborate distraction. They're doing something underground and are doing everything they can to keep our attention off of that one thing. But with that preset they could be aiming for Naruto in a much less dynamic way, they could be aiming for the association, the Uchiha. Anyone." Sasuke finished.

"If for whatever reason they want the Uzumaki's then Naruto and Kyuubi are in trouble." Kakashi said looking between the others.

"No, they didn't just go after an Uzumaki they went after a direct descendant of the Uzumaki line. Naruto is currently the only direct descendant. Kyuubi has a lot of the same attributes of a direct descendant because of his age, but he isn't one. If they simply wanted an Uzumaki, it's not exactly an extinct clan there's a good number still alive they're just so spread out you can't tell." Neji spoke up.

"Look, I'm just saying before we do anything we need to find what their goal is. We can not risk letting them slip through our fingers once again." Sasuke finished.

"You're right, something's off but . . ." Tsunade flicked her hand, irritated, "Right now everyone is in complete hysteria over Ōnoki, and no matter what we need to move against them now. Even more so, newborns are increasing at an alarming rate here within Konoha."

"Yeah, the most protected city in the world." Kakashi replied.

"That should make it clear enough there's something we're missing." Neji spoke.

"For now I'm going to release an order here in Konoha. Every high-level hunter is to move against the growing newborns within Konoha and we will tighten our security, if something happens they won't have the chance to slip through our fingers. Kakashi that includes Iruka, Sasuke you will not leave Naruto's side if Iruka and Kakashi aren't around. The heads of all four Noble Clans; Myself, Naruto, Itachi Uchiha and Hinata Hyuuga will be relocated to Konoha, assigned a bodyguard, and kept under constant surveillance. Sasuke you will watch Naruto, Kakashi you will watch myself, Neji, you will watch Hinata and Kyuubi will watch Itachi. Every single threat within Konoha will be weeded out and dealt with as I see fit. All other council members will be put into protective custody until a threat arises that requires their skill sets." Tsunade explained.

"No one, absolutely no one, in the council will agree to that." Kakashi commented.

"I know, that's why they'll be constantly watched and restricted to their home villages. They get the freedom they want and I can keep them safe. Also Konoha High will be shut down until further notice, all the teachers will be assigned to hunt the newborns and that's what the students will be told. The younger members won't need to know anything about the actual severity of the situation, including Naruto. We don't need to put them in danger, they are too young and too inexperienced. Dismissed." The three stood up, nodding in understanding and turning to leave.

"Ah, Uchiha please stay." Sasuke turned to face the voice that called him, looking as he saw the other teachers leave.

/

"Yes, Hashirama?" Sasuke questioned as he turned, sitting down once more.

"No, I'd just like to thank you again for doing this. It's really good for the students to have someone like you who has seen so much and experienced so much to be around."

"It's fine. But I'm curious why are humans attending a school for hunters and vampires?"

"To protect them. Most people in Konoha have had some interaction with vampires, though their existence is hidden from the majority of humans by the association."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded and stood up leaving the Hokage office.

"Hey Uchiha-Sensei!" Sasuke turned nodding slightly to the voice, though he paid little attention to the owner.

"Uchiha-Sensei!" He nodded again.

"Sensei!" Over and over people called for him and each time he nodded to them in acknowledgment. He entered his classroom, sparing a glance at the clock. He had about thirty minutes before class started.

"Sensei!" Sasuke resisted the urge to flinch at the voice as two of his students entered the classroom. He turned to the two vampires, nodding to them slightly.

"Neh, neh, Sensei, aren't you gonna ask why we're so early?" Sasuke recognized the young girls as his students Sakura and Ino, and turned to face them. Knowing, whether he wanted them to or not they would elaborate for him.

"We came to study! Aren't we such good students?" Ino exclaimed. He nodded slightly to them and returned to his grading.

"Hey Sensei," Sakura smiled as she leaned against him. "You should tell us a story about your past."

"Right! Right!" Ino exclaimed excitedly. He looked at the two,

"How about I inform the Hokage about your excessive flirting with your sensei. Or should I just handle it myself." He glared at the two girls. They tensed at his reply but nodded, leaving the room.

"Damn you Itachi." Sasuke cursed. "Why don't you fucking infiltrate the damn school." Sasuke cursed to himself as he grabbed a piece of chalk, writing on the board.

/

"Gugh!" Sasuke exclaimed collapsing onto the doors frame, catching the attention of everyone in the office. He grabbed his head, feeling an overwhelming rush of pain engulf him as his eyes turned red and his fangs struggled to rip through his gums.

"Sasuke?" Neji spoke setting his hand on the raven's shoulder. Sasuke gave a deep, inaudible breath, the initial pain subsiding as he forced it down and bit back his vampiric urges.

"I'm fine." Sasuke glared at the brunette, forcing himself to his feet as he walked from the room, struggling to keep his balance, or well show the others he could. _Again. . . _Sasuke though as he left the office.

* * *

That's right, the Akatsuki were originally members of the Uchiha who were exiled. Note: The Akatsuki does NOT consist of only Uchiha members and all of the original members are still there. Except for Itachi of course. There's a deeper story there that will be explained in upcoming chapters so please be patient. My winter break is coming up so I can finally return to my original schedule of one post every week, maybe even start a few more stories.

Fav, Follow, Review and whatever else! I love feedback and am sorry for the long periods between editing, I understand how frustrating it can get and will hopefully be able to get back to one chapter a week.


	12. Chapter 11

Okay so I was going over the planning, oh so long ago, and had an epiphany, my planning was crap. Where I was heading was just way out there, and it was completely unalike their personalities. They were originally going to be all lovey-dovey and what not and it was just really bad. So I completely redid all of the planning following chapter 10 and I was really afraid of planning something and having it contradict something I already wrote. Definitely since this chapter brings in a lot of history and what not I didn't wanna chance it and confuse you guys. Which is why it ended up taking so long.

/

Okay, so we have two or three more chapters before this Arc is finished.

Daily life arc (The longest) (11~14 chapters)

Revelations arc (This one is very iffy because there are a lot of chapters I can combine so it'll probably be more about 5~8 chapters.)(10~13 chapters)

Stranded Arc (5~unknown)

As it stands this is where my planning has stopped. I have ideas I want to add in and what not but it's not concrete yet.

Uchiha Clan Arc (This arc is a must, I have a few chapters planned for this arc actually.)

(There will probably be two or three more arc's following this.)

/

Overall I know most of the history involved in the story, the characters that'll be involved, where it's gonna end and how, now I just gotta finish planning it.

Well if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Enjoy you're reading, I made this one extra long for you.

But I loved writing this chapter so much and I love Hinata's character.

* * *

"So, so?!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, paying little attention to the blonde's antics. His head was killing him and even more, the dobe wouldn't shut up. Ever since he collapsed in Tsunade's office he'd been getting headaches, they were easy enough to ignore for now but sometimes they really got in his way.

"Sasuke?" Sasuke glared at the boy,

"Hn?"

"Is something wrong? You look agitated, more so than usual." Naruto said, half joking.

"Nothing." Sasuke growled, he shook his head then returned his attention to the road.

"I haven't seen Neji much." Naruto commented.

"His cousin's coming to town so he's been busy."

"He has a cousin?" Naruto asked.

"Her name is Hinata Hyuuga, she's the current head of the Hyuuga Clan."

"Then what's Neji? He's part of the Hyuuga isn't he?"

"He's the head of the branch family." Naruto looked at Sasuke, waiting for him to explain. "The head of the clan is the first born of each generation. My father had my older brother, Itachi, first. So Itachi would take up the clan then I would branch off and have my own family. My family would become part of the Branch House, and I would be the Branch Head. Then all of my kids and their relatives would be part of the Branch House. If my brother had kids his first born would take up the head of the Uchiha and his second-born would take over the Branch House. If he didn't have kids then my first born would take my position when I died. Hinata's father was a first-born, Neji's father was the second-born. Because of that Neji's father became head of the Branch House. Following his death Neji became the branch head."

"So Neji controls the Branch House and Hinata controls the Main House?"

"Yes."

"So Itachi controls the Main House and you control the Branch House."

"That's a little more complicated but I guess you could say so. We have a Main House and a Branch House however we don't really have a head for the Branch House. The Hyuuga has the Branch House protect the Main House, their entire compound is basically a small militia. The Uchiha's, though most of our people are trained fighters, our compound is more of a village than anything. When it's needed our people will fight though they aren't as restricted as the Hyuuga's Branch House. Also, since Itachi and I are as old as we are, in the positions that we are, we often mutually choose a leader for the Uchiha whenever a particularly skilled individual comes along, we'll help guide them until they get into the flow of controlling the Uchiha and we can officially back down. Then when the Uchiha needs a leader once again Itachi or I will take the position until someone else comes along to whom we can agree would be a strong leader."

"That's complicated."

"Well you're learning the political structure of a completely different government."

"Well what's Hinata like?" Naruto asked.

"Hm, what, are you interested?"

"In a vampire? No way in hell?"

"Hn." Sasuke felt his head throb in pain. "She's extremely intelligent, however she's also extremely manipulative and conniving." He never liked admitting that he was on especially good terms with anyone but he held great interest in the current Hyuuga head. When they first met she seemed infuriating and arrogant, Neji seemed like the better of the two, and though it was true she couldn't compare to Neji physically her mental prowess was something you only saw once in a generation. As a leader, Sasuke had to say, he at least respected her, though he'd never admit it.

"Well it kinda makes sense that she's manipulative, she was probably always surrounded by people who wanted something from her, right, I mean if she was the head of the Hyuuga?"

"Hm, you actually said something smart."

"Teme." Naruto growled, Sasuke looked Naruto over, now that he thought about it,

"Are you familiar with that kind of situation?"

"What do you mean?"

"People wanting something?" Naruto gave a small sigh as he intertwined his fingers, he turned his intertwined hands away from his body and stretched his arms out so his palms were facing away from him, cracking his fingers. He lied his palms on his lap without separating them and began lightly hitting his thumbs together as he stared forward with a distant look. Sasuke dropped any anticipation for a reply and kept his eyes on the road, enjoying the new found silence despite the nagging feeling that was begging him to push Naruto for an answer.

"Iruka,-" Naruto stopped for a second, he stretched his arms across the dashboard and released his intertwined fingers, bringing his arms back and crossing them, lying his crossed arms across the dashboard and lying his head against his arms. "The third Hokage, Iruka, Kakashi, Jiraiya and later Tsunade were all very important to me, well they still are but, anyway. You know, I never knew much about the association, as we've established. Stuff was often hid from me, even if I knew I just pretended I was wrong because I trusted them so much. When my family was killed everyone knew I would become the Hokage someday. The adults all wanted to get close to me in order to gain position when I became Hokage. Some even used their kids, other kids mostly kept away from me though because they were jealous about the attention I got. The third Hokage, Iruka, Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade were the only people who didn't care when I was younger, and interacted with me because they wanted to. I became dependent on them, even if I knew I was being kept in the dark I wanted to believe there was a reason. Of course when things started coming out I couldn't handle it, I prefer to just lie to myself but once I get an idea in my head I can't simply drop it. For you, though I knew there was something they didn't want me to know, the idea had blossomed so I couldn't just drop it. It's really contradictory isn't it?"

"No one likes to be lied to."

"But it's not that simple is it? I know there's probably so much I don't know, of course it bothers me and I like to believe that there's a reason for it but once a topic arises I can't just ignore it, I have to know. The idea that they don't trust me, that they don't believe in me, scares me. I don't wanna be a puppet to the whims of the others. Does that make sense? I'm okay being ignorant but when I get an idea in my head I need to know. Then I want to know more, I don't wanna be in the situation where I'm so ignorant to the world around me that others can use it. When I was younger that's how it was, but because I had everyone around me I could avoid being used and I grew accustomed to being dependent, to the point I don't think I can really protect myself. I don't wanna be a puppet. Ever since I was younger I wanted to take the name Hokage and follow the ideals my father, Tsunade, the third Hokage, the ideals everyone believed in and worked for. People wanted to use me but that experience didn't help me grow, if anything it hurt me more. Everyone believed they needed to protect me from everything, no matter what. I'm not that weak, am I? I think if they could trust me I'd be okay. I've handled everything up till now rather calmly, have I not?"

"Naruto, how do you feel about vampires?"

". . ." Naruto looked at Sasuke for a second, then at the road and then returned his gaze to Sasuke, "I hate vampires as a species because all they do is kill and survive on instinct."

"That's part of the problem Naruto. What do you plan on doing with vampires when you become Hokage?"

"Our current system works, does it not? Why should I have to get involved?" Naruto asked.

"You honestly believe it's that simple."

"Don't the Uchiha and Hyuuga deal with that?"

"Do you understand why vampires go to blood banks?" Naruto looked at Sasuke curiously, "All the Uchiha and Hyuuga care about is the safety of our own kind. All the Senju and Uzumaki care about are the hunters and humans. You're right, the current system works however many vampires are angered by the way hunter's treat us. It's the Hokage's job to ensure our people they are getting their deserved rights. The Uchiha and Hyuuga can't ensure that because we aren't telling them to hold back their instincts, the Hokage is. They need to trust the Hokage, they need to trust that you have the best interest of everyone in mind."

"But if the system works why do I need to be involved?"

"Naruto, no matter what you do someone isn't going to like it. You need to be able to prove that, though they don't like it, it is beneficial for the majority of the people. Especially something as controversial as vampire and hunter relations. You can't just drop it because you don't like it."

"What was it like before the hunter's association?"

"The hunters and vampires were constantly at war."

"That's it?"

"What'd you expect?"

"No I just expected some long-winded explanation."

"There's nothing to explain, all that was present was consistent, unrestrained, bloodlust. And really, even in human standards, the association's not that old. Because of that the systems still flawed, as long as you hold your prejudice people will look down on you and your ability to become Hokage."

"Hah." Naruto sighed slightly, stretching his arms, after a moment of silence he spoke. "I can't exactly define what I feel anymore." Sasuke looked at Naruto,

"What do you mean?"

"Before, I mean, well for me vampires classified under one category. All vampires were killers. I think, still, as a species all vampires kill and survive on instinct. Everyone knows that, they're only concerned with their own safety. It runs so deep that a starving vampire will unconsciously shut down every bodily function except for their instinct to hunt and they'll mindlessly attack the closest blood source. Survival and thirst is literally built into their genotype. Like that, how are vampire's any different from animals?" Naruto stopped and looked at Sasuke, whom was quietly listening to the blonde, "Yet, do turned vampires still have some human traits? I can't help thinking that. I can't help thinking how all the vampire's I've faced followed that idea that I had, animals just thirsting for blood. Yet what about you and Neji? You've, neither of you have come after me for blood. Is it because of age or? You're purebloods, does that change anything? Then suddenly vampires weren't just vampires. Now there's animalistic vampires, and, and, you guys, I guess, purebloods. I don't really know how to say it but it's just not such an easy identification anymore." Sasuke looked Naruto over, he was really thinking about it then?

"Naruto there is no way to broadly identify vampires. Each individual is different. When we were told to drink from blood bags rather than humans many vampires refused, the sensations and the taste are so different. Still some of us listened and stopped, including myself and Neji. Other vampires refused and became what you imagine. Some turned vampires have never drunk form a human, most vampires younger than five hundred years haven't drunk from humans if they've had a proper teacher. But no matter what way you look at it there will be exceptions. Some vampires do indulge in their vampiric instincts, others mingle with society to the point you can't even tell their vampires. Rather than trying to broadly define everyone just judge those you encounter as you do, as single people rather than a species."

Naruto smiled slightly, "And what are you exactly?"

"Hn?"

"Friend or foe?" Naruto playfully questioned.

"Well you're the hunter."

"Meaning you're the prey?" Naruto smiled, Sasuke slightly rolled his eyes in both amusement and annoyance.

"Hn, dobe."

"Oh, we're here. I'm gonna go change." Naruto said as he reached for his gym bag in the backseat.

"I'll be in the back." Sasuke replied.

"Okay." Naruto smiled as he draped the bag over his back.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

"Done?" Sasuke asked as Naruto left the patio.

"Yeah."

"About time."

"Well I got lost in your monster of a house!" Naruto exclaimed, sighing angrily.

"Yeah, yeah, come on."

"Got it." Naruto stretched slightly as he stood a few feet in front of Sasuke. "Okay, let's go." Naruto spoke as he shook his hands and changed his stance. Sasuke carefully watched the boy, waiting to see if he would attack first or let Sasuke.

Naruto admired Sasuke's stance for a second, seeing nothing out of the ordinary he lunged at the raven. Sasuke moved to the side as Naruto came at him, Naruto swung his hand back, aiming for the raven's head. Sasuke dropped to his knees to avoid Naruto's attack. Immediately Naruto noticed it, Sasuke was only dodging, not defending and not attacking. Naruto brought his knee up, aiming for Sasuke's chest as the raven ducked in order to avoid Naruto's previous attack. Sasuke saw Naruto's knee immediately and rolled to the side, moving at vampiric speeds he appeared behind the blonde and aimed for the back of his neck. Naruto saw Sasuke from the corner of his eye and ducked before he could be hit, then Naruto brought his foot back to kick Sasuke. The raven swiped his hand down pushing Naruto's foot away with enough force Naruto felt the bruise already beginning to form. Sasuke brought his hand around Naruto's head, grabbing the blonde's chin and forcibly pulling him back, using his foot to catch Naruto's legs so Sasuke could throw Naruto to the ground. Naruto jumped to avoid getting caught by Sasuke's feet and grabbed the raven's wrist, yanking him forward. Sasuke's eyes opened in shock as he was brought over Naruto's shoulder and thrown onto his back. Naruto brought his foot to Sasuke's neck as the raven lie on the ground, Sasuke grabbed the blonde's ankle and pulled it back. Naruto looked surprised as he felt himself falling into a split, he forcefully swung his body to the side, in order to avoid doing a split. Naruto crashed into Sasuke as the raven moved to get up and in turn pushed the vampire down. Naruto groaned in pain as he sat up,

"Good job dobe." Sasuke sarcastically said as he groaned uncomfortably.

"Oh shut up tem-," Naruto flushed red as he realized he was straddling Sasuke. "My bad." He exclaimed as he quickly jumped off the raven.

"Yeah." Sasuke mumbled slightly as he awkwardly scratched his head, a slight smirk coming to his face as he watched the flustered blonde. "Not bad, granted you'll probably never be able to push me down again."

"Please I could easily push you down." Naruto angrily retorted, dropping his head in embarrassment as he realized what he said. Sasuke looked towards the forest, ignoring the growing pain in his head.

"Well then, let's continue." Sasuke rubbed his head awkwardly as he jumped to his feet. He turned to face Naruto.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"It's been so long." Sasuke listened to the breathy voice. He looked at the elegant figure standing in front of him. She was exceptionally gorgeous, tall with a delicate yet strong frame. She was pale with long, coal black hair. Her hair was long reaching to her lower black, her bangs evenly cut across her forehead, just above her enlarged white irises, which had no pupils. Next to Neji, Sasuke could clearly see the family resemblance.

"Hinata." Sasuke spoke, giving her a sincere nod.

"It's been a while." She smiled.

"Hurry up." Neji grumbled, pushing Hinata into the house. Neji ignored the looks he received, taking a left into the mansions living room. Hinata followed her cousin as Neji lazily slumped into the couch, Hinata sitting on a free cushion next to him.

Sasuke exhaustedly took an open chair, allowing his head to momentarily bob back before he looked the two over. Hinata looked between her cousin and the Uchiha. Neji paid little attention to the situation, closing his eyes as he lied across the back couch and Sasuke stared at the two, waiting for some explanation. "It's been a while Sasuke." Hinata repeated with a smirk, looking Sasuke over.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, giving the girl a nod.

"What have you been up to?" Hinata asked.

"For now, watching Naruto."

Hinata smiled as she looked at Sasuke. "What's Naruto like. Since he'll be working with us as well?"

"Loud, obnoxious, annoying. I get a raging headache whenever I see him." Hinata gave a small laugh,

"That was blunt." She smiled at him slightly, "You get along, don't you?" Sasuke looked Hinata over for a second, running a hand through his hair he finally spoke,

"He's different. He's unlike anyone I've met. I don't know how to handle someone like him." Hinata looked at the Uchiha,

"Why do you need to 'handle' him?"

"Hn?"

"Why must you 'handle' him, what do you mean by that?" Hinata smiled as she looked at the Uchiha, he was obviously at a loss for words. Sasuke looked over the girl.

"I don't know how to approach his reactions?" Sasuke said, more as a question than a response.

"I don't understand." Hinata smiled. Sasuke looked over the girl, what exactly was she trying to make him say?

"He acts in a manner that I can't follow. Moves at his own pace and I'm not use to that."

Hinata looked Sasuke over carefully before speaking, "Naruko was just like that, doesn't that mean you have seen such behavior before."

"She was more predictable." Sasuke replied, no way in hell was she gonna stump the Uchiha, maybe.

Hinata smiled at the response, straightening her posture as she continued, "On the contrary, her unpredictability was her strong point as a hunter."

"However she had some of her father's more composed behavior. Naruto is much more like his mother in personality and power, however he also has a weaker and more fragile character despite his confident actions." Hinata laughed lightly,

"So you've studied his behavior that much." Sasuke couldn't hold back his surprise this time, Hinata smiled. "I'm done teasing you Uchiha."

Sasuke released a small growl, "You sure haven't changed Hyuuga." Hinata gave a small girlish laugh as she walked over to the raven and playfully hit his arm,

"I missed teasing you." Sasuke gave her a bone chilling glare, which had no effect on the girl. Neji raised a questioning eyebrow as he watched the interactions between his cousin and the Uchiha. "I'm glad." Hinata squealed as she forcibly shook the raven.

"Don't kill him, or at least don't leave a mess." Neji joked as he stuck his tongue out at the two. Hinata faked a pout, turning to Sasuke, whom was just shaking his head at the interactions between the two Hyuuga.

"It has been long." Sasuke simply said as a slight smirk graced his face. Hinata's eyes went wide, but she simply smiled in return.

"It sure has." She replied. The three stopped as they felt a sudden presence in the room. They all turned to the door that lead into the entrance hall.

"Thanks for letting me borrow your shower." Naruto said uncertainly, afraid he was interrupting something.

"Yo, Naruto!" Neji called, waving to the boy.

"Hey." Naruto replied.

"So you're the infamous Uzumaki-Namikaze?" Hinata smiled as she looked over the blonde, gracefully walking circles around the boy as she surveyed him.

"Um, infamous? How exactly."

Hinata smiled as she ran to Sasuke's side and in a voice so low and so fast that no human or hunter could hear she spoke, "He's covered in your scent. So even when you're not there you can protect him, right? I wonder how you managed that." Neji couldn't hold back a small laugh, catching Naruto's attention as he looked between the three.

Sasuke growled back, "Shampoo and conditioner." Hinata smiled and unable to hold back, she and Neji burst into laughter. Naruto looked questionably at Sasuke, who just shook his head in irritation.

"Naruto." Hinata smiled, gently pulling away from Sasuke. "I've heard a lot about you, it's nice to finally meet you. My name's Hinata Hyuuga." She stopped to shake the man's hand.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you Hinata." He spoke, shaking her hand politely despite the look of distrust on his face. "Um, what'd you mean when you said I'm infamous?" Naruto asked, unable to get her tone of voice out of his head.

"Well for vampires, that is, of course." Hinata smiled slightly as she whispered sweetly, "A hunter in a room of vampires, especially you, my, how peculiar."

"Hinata." Sasuke glared at the woman. Hinata pouted slightly at the word of warning,

Sasuke looked at her, then looked back at Naruto. Naruto slightly jumped as his eyes met Sasukes. Naruto looked at Hinata, he disliked her. His heart clenched and his stomach was twisting, he wanted to throw up. Her tone of voice, the way she presented herself, the words she spoke. The way she sold herself told Naruto not to trust her. Yet, despite that the others didn't seem to object at all, she was even hanging onto Sasuke in a way that made it seem like a daily occurrence. For some reason they stayed with her, trusted her and yet on first glance he felt his stomach clench in disgust and the more he considered her actions the more he disliked her.

"Naruto?" Naruto jumped looking at Sasuke.

"You seem out of it, something wrong?" Neji asked.

"No." Naruto replied, slightly smiling. Hinata looked curiously at the boy then she looked at Sasuke and smiled knowingly, without a waver in her step she jumped onto the couch, alongside Sasuke.

"So, Naruto."

"Yes?"

"Don't just sit there, come on, and take a seat." Hinata smiled patting the seat next to her. Hesitantly he listened, sitting next to her.

"So." Hinata hissed as she leaned into his side. Naruto felt a cold shiver run down his spine. He felt his stomach clench again but this time it wasn't just disgust, something else, but this feeling wasn't fear, more anxiety. He felt uneasy and nervous, rather than fearing her he was nervous about what she could do. "Oh, your heart. Are you afraid?" Hinata smiled lightly pressing a hand to his chest, causing him to tense.

"Hinata." Sasuke said sending another warning glare to her. She smiled, nodding to him as she moved back. Hinata draped her arm through Sasuke's and smiled, Naruto felt his heart clench at the obvious display. She and Sasuke were so familiar with each other. He kinda felt uncomfortable in this atmosphere, and not just because of the growing disgust he held for the girl. She was so pushy and overbearing.

"Naruto what's your favorite color?" Naruto looked at her confused, the odd question catching him off guard,

"Um, yellow, orange."

"Oh how fitting, bright, explosive, loud." She gave a small smile. "Your best friend?"

"Uhm, this guy named Kiba."

"Hmm, what about a girlfriend, or mind you, a boyfriend."

"None. . ." He slowly replied, unsure about the line of questioning.

"Interesting. Have you ever liked someone?"

"Can I ask what's with these personal questions?"

"Research." She replied narrowing her eyes slightly, a conniving grin on her face.

"Just go along with it Naruto, once she gets it out of her system it'll be over, otherwise she'll get her answer some other way. Take it as a compliment, you've intrigued her." Neji yawned.

"Uh, yeah, of course I've liked people but it's never led to anything." She gave a small smile,

"Well,-" Naruto jumped as a large beep met everyone's ears. She frowned slightly,

"It's my phone." Naruto said as he pulled it from his pocket. "It's Kiba, he wants to know how much longer." Sasuke looked between Hinata and Naruto for a second, then replied.

"Tell him we're on our way." Sasuke stood up, beginning to walk to the door, Naruto following close behind. "Don't trash my house." Sasuke said as he grabbed his car keys off the end table.

Hinata pouted slightly then smiled, "Hey Naruto." Naruto slightly jumped at the voice, turning to face the girl. "Tomorrow night the three of us and Gaara are heading out to eat at Yakiniku Q, you're coming, right?"

Naruto looked at the woman, "I'm going to be at a friend's house, I won't be able to."

"Then bring your friend along." Hinata slyly smiled at the man.

Naruto felt his stomach boil with anger, "Of course." Naruto replied with his own cocky smile.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

Sasuke felt the ever-growing awkwardness from the blonde hunter as they sat in complete silence. Usually Naruto would come up with some random topic, or at least turn on the radio, but right now he was so lost in his thoughts, and though Sasuke usually preferred a similar silence he really wished the blonde would say something. Sasuke looked at the blonde,

"Don't take her actions to heart." Naruto looked at Sasuke, at the road and back at Sasuke.

"You and Hinata seem pretty close."

"If that's what you'd call it. We've known each other for a while."

"So how'd you meet each other?"

"Through Neji."

"Hm, how'd you two meet?"

"Why so interested?"

"Well Hinata's a girl, you're a guy. You seem pretty close."

"Are you jealous?" Sasuke joked. Naruto flushed red,

"Of her not you!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke felt a smirk tug at the corner of his lips as he brought his eyes back to Naruto,

"Hn." Sasuke huffed out in place of a laugh.

"I-I I mean of you not her, urgh." Naruto's blush grew as he saw the look in Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke looked at Naruto, not able to hold back a small smirk, "I really don't wanna think she's that bad, I mean there must be something that keeps her at Neji and your side, but I just don't see her as trustworthy, I guess."

"She's loyal but cautious. That's it."

"So how'd you all meet?" Naruto replied with an enthusiastic smile,

"When the hunters and vampires were at war there were systems both sides set up in order to maintain our strength as a species and control our forces while at war. In order to do this the leaders of the vampire species, the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, had to find a common ground so our forces wouldn't conflict in the war against the hunters. In order to do this a government was made, this government consisted of two Uchiha, two Hyuuga and three vampires from lower, yet influential, clans. Within the Uchiha, Itachi and I usually went to represent our clan. Within the Hyuuga the Main House head would go and the Branch House head would go. Neji and I met through this government. As for how I met Hinata, I often saw her when I went to the Hyuuga house to associate with the clan over politics. We officially met at the governments meeting following her becoming the clan's head."

"So even the Vampire's had a system."

"Well for a while we didn't, one family was usually ahead of the other and because the Uchiha were born from the father of all vampire and hunter species we held more ground than the Hyuuga, who were born through his brother. For a while the Uchiha were at top and controlled the majority of the vampire species then a civil war broke out due to lack of an heir and many of our forces switched to the Hyuuga. When the Uchiha regained their position the vampire species became more or less divided between the two families which led to war, despite the tension already present with the hunters."

"If it was like that, why are you, Neji and Hinata as you are now?"

"Because the wars we fought were simply for our name. We fought for our families, once the war ended there were, how would you say, 'no hard feelings.'"

"That's kinda ironic." Naruto joked.

"Hn?"

"Well I just mean you think vampires, due to their lifespans, would be more of the, 'never forget' types."

"Well isn't the opposite true as well?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well with our lifespans wouldn't it be more true to say we understand the ignorance of holding onto a grudge."

Naruto shrugged slightly, he looked outside the window then back at Sasuke. "You know, I'm curious. How exactly do pureblood vampires exist? I mean turned vampires become immortal the moment they turn, so how exactly can you be born a vampire?"

"Well we're actually born mostly human, give or take a few natural instincts and bloodline abilities. Right about the age of 18, it's different for everyone, we begin developing our vampiric forms. Once a vampire fully develops the ability to secrete poison our hearts begin to stop and we become 'full' vampires. It's just a developmental thing really. That's also why purebloods often times have a stronger hold on their instincts, because their children share many human qualities."

"But what about all those stereotypes?"

"Stereotypes?"

"I mean not having a reflection, bats, garlic, silver, coffins, I think that's it."

"What about them?"

"What's true and what not?"

"Really?"

"Yeah come on, they never talk about it in class. All we ever talk about is killing them."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, "You're serious."

"Come on."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Hn, we don't have reflections, and we don't show up in pictures. Though the hunters have developed certain cameras and video cameras that allow vampires to show up."

"Yeah I remember you were in Naruko's videos."

"They were mostly developed for studies and tracking. Well bats, though it is true they are often more calm around vampires, it's mostly because bats aren't able to sense us. Most animals aren't able to when we're in our vampire forms. Garlic, yes though it's not gonna kill us. It's just we rely heavily on our senses to hunt and strong scents such as garlic, or anything that blocks our senses are extremely dangerous to us. If we don't have our senses we can't hunt and we can't tell when we're the ones being hunted. Granted hunters don't use garlic because they face the same problem, however the scent's not as long lasting as it is on vampires. Even then though, more experienced hunters and vampires rely on their ability to perceive rather than their main five senses because of how easily they can be blocked. Silver doesn't affect us and as for coffins, no we don't sleep in coffins, actually we don't even need to sleep though we can sleep it's not necessary."

"What kind of dreams do you have Sasuke?" Sasuke felt his head throb,

"We don't dream." Sasuke replied. "You know you ask a lot of questions."

"Well I'm curious."

"Hn."

"And that's why I have to ask questions to supplant a conversation." Naruto angrily huffed as he stared out the window, "How much longer?"

"Just a few minutes." Once again there was a moment of silence.

"About Hinata, I'm not upset." Naruto laughed slightly, "Just a bit irritated."

"Hn."

"I mean is she always like that."

"I told you she was manipulative."

"That was downright sadism," Naruto joked.

Sasuke smirked, "We're here dobe."

"Oh, thanks for the ride." Naruto spoke as he grabbed his bag from the back seat. "And I guess I'm going to dinner with you guys tomorrow." Naruto sighed slightly.

"You said yes."

"Cause I wanted to show her up." Naruto whined.

"That didn't work well."

"I know." Naruto pouted, "And I had to go and drag Kiba into it too."

"Do you need a ride?"

"No Kiba has a car, thanks though. Later teme." Naruto teased as he turned from the car.

"Hn." Sasuke rolled his eyes as he put the car into reverse.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Hinata smiled slightly, then looked back as she heard the garage door open, "Oh, he's home."

"Well then I wonder how this will go." Neji smiled as he sat up on the couch.

"You think he'll say something?" Hinata asked.

"He knows your character, though I do think you went a bit too far when you brought up Naruko."

"We'll see." Hinata smiled slyly as the two waited for Sasuke to enter the house.

"Welcome back." The two spoke in unison.

"Hn." Sasuke threw his keys on the end table and took a seat on the couch as he felt the pain in his head near excruciating.

"So?" Hinata remarked, annoyed at the lack of a response she was receiving.

Sasuke glared at her but said nothing, he lightly dropped his head back and shut his eyes.

"You're irritated, aren't you?" Hinata asked, receiving no response. "I'll take that as a yes, I bet little Naru-chan hates me doesn't he," Hinata smiled, "Naruto just takes it no matter how irritated he gets, it's interesting, different, but when he retorts he's very direct about it. It's so cute, I wanna keep teasing him like that. I bet he complained about me on the car ride, did he?" Hinata questioned as she looked at Sasuke, the raven still lying his head against the couch. "Sasuke?" Hinata questioned as she began moving towards him. She hovered her head over his, "Is he . . . sleeping?" Hinata questioned.

"Him? Sleeping?" Neji questioned as he moved next to his cousin.

"Sasuke?" Hinata questioned as she moved to shake him.

"Gugh." The slight moan of pain didn't go unheard by either vampire.

/

"Hah, I hate these kinds of 'events.'" Neji complained to the younger Uchiha, sighing as he walked to a nearby table. He grabbed a wine glass full of a red liquid and turned to face Sasuke.

"She's the new Hyuuga head then?"

"Yeah, once the coronation officially ends everything passes down to her." Neji sighed as he looked around at the exquisite décor, a gentle and soothing rhythm playing throughout the hall as the large expanse of vampires danced in groups of two, each group in complete synch with the next. "These gatherings are always too formal, could we not just have a party with loud music and vulgar dancing?"

"What, you wanna have sex on the dance floor?" Sasuke questioned.

"Maybe." Neji commented, then he looked Sasuke over and spoke with a slight smirk, "Is that an offer Uchiha?"

"Like you could satisfy me." Sasuke replied as he grabbed a glass for himself.

Neji laughed then looked at the Uchiha, "That woman doesn't deserve the seat."

"Is now really the time to be saying that?"

Neji glanced around again, raising his eyebrow as he saw a nearby group listening in on their conversation, he looked down at his cup as he swished around the contents and took a quick sip, "Ahh, 28 years old, healthy, type AB. My favorite."

"Hn, I prefer type B."

Neji looked to make sure the eavesdroppers were no longer listening then continued speaking, "I just don't trust her."

"Are you one to judge?"

"Are you?" Neji questioned, then continued on, "I have worked with the alliance longer than any of these fuckers, and I have been involved in the politics of this damn clan longer than most of the people here."

"Is someone jealous?"

"Damn right."

"It's just the way things are."

"Look I'm not saying Hinata wouldn't be a good leader. But she's manipulative, untrustworthy, and weak. She's smart, I'll admit to that, but she doesn't have the capabilities of a leader and it just pisses me off."

"Sasuke!" Sasuke turned to the voice that called him, Itachi. Next to his elder brother was the newest heir to the Hyuuga, Hinata.

"Work calls." Sasuke said as he grabbed two more glasses of blood and walked towards the two. He handed his brother a glass and the Hyuuga. Itachi bowed his head in thanks, Hinata smiling,

"Thank you."

"Sasuke I want you to meet Hinata Hyuuga." Itachi spoke, a sincere smile on his face. Itachi had coal black hair and onyx eyes, similar to Sasuke's. He was taller and slightly more tanned than Sasuke, however despite his breathtaking appearance what stood out most were his overly pronounced tear-troughs. As it was his hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, his chin-length bangs slightly hanging from the ponytail, just barely being held up by the hair tie.

"Thank you for inviting us, Ms. Hyuuga. It's a pleasure to meet you." Sasuke feigned sincerity.

"Of course." Hinata smiled genuinely, slightly bowing her head in response.

"Hinata has told me of many plans she has in order to, not only combat the hunters, but to also better unite our forces." Itachi explained.

"My, how intriguing." Sasuke replied with a sincere nod.

"Master Hinata." Hinata turned as someone called for her, "My, how sad, we barely got to talk Mr. Sasuke." Sasuke slightly twitched at the lack of respect but ignored it overall.

"Yes, that's true." Sasuke replied.

"Well, we'll all be seeing much more of each other." Hinata smiled, "It's been nice meeting you. Mr. Itachi your inquiry's were insightful and useful however you must know that whatever you're hiding is extremely obvious and the Hyuuga will do all in its power to discover your secrets, for the safety of our clan and people, we're not ignorant enough to trust you. Also Mr. Sasuke, no one forced either of you to come so please keep your displeasure hidden and consider more carefully what you say and do, after all you represent the Uchiha clan, no?" Hinata gave a small smile, "Thank you for coming." She finished speaking and left the two Uchiha's.

"Ouch." Itachi spoke.

"Hn." Sasuke huffed in amusement.

"She had some sound ideas and her personality makes for a good leader, manipulative and proud, overall this will be very interesting little brother. Make a note to invite her to Madara's coronation, I'd like to get to know her better."

Sasuke nodded in response.

/

"Sasuke!" Sasuke jumped forward, biting his tongue in order to mask the pain. "Are you okay?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Sasuke replied as he clenched the couch cushion harshly.

"Didn't a similar thing happen in Tsunade's office?" Neji questioned.

"I'm fine, it's nothing." Sasuke replied.

"I'm worried about you, Sasuke." Neij said.

"I said it's fine, I'm gonna get some work done." Sasuke pushed the two away as he forced himself off of the couch.

"Are you sure." Hinata questioned.

"Hn." Sasuke ignored the girl's concern and went upstairs to his room.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

"I can't believe you dragged me into this." Kiba complained as he and Naruto stood in front of the small restaurant known as, 'Yakiniku Q'.

"I was tricked." Naruto pouted.

"I don't want to eat with a bunch of vampires in my free time Naruto, definitely when I might become the meal." Kiba joked.

"You think I want to?!"

"Looks like they're here." Kiba said as he motioned towards the black 2014 Cadillac ELR.

"Sasuke has so many cars I can barely keep track of them." Naruto commented. "I just go to the most expensive-looking car when I'm trying to find him."

"True." Kiba shrugged. The two waited at the front of the restaurant as Sasuke parked the car. "Hm, that's Hinata?" Kiba questioned.

"Well that's the only girl out of the four."

"I don't know man, Neji has that long hair and I can't say much for Sasuke either. Gaara's the only one I'm really confident in." Naruto gave a small laugh at his friend's remark. "So you trust them?"

"Hmm, do I trust them?" Naruto repeated.

"Yeah."

"Well I'm not so sure about Hinata but Sasuke's been watching out for me for a while and Neji's pretty cool." Kiba looked curiously at Naruto, surprised by the blonde's response then smiled slightly,

"You guys didn't wait long right?" Hinata questioned as she ran up to the two boys.

"No." Naruto replied. Hinata looked Kiba over carefully then smiled at the man,

"Hello, I'm Hinata Hyuuga."

"Kiba Inuzuka." Kiba smiled shaking her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Are we going in or what?" Neji asked as he and Gaara walked up.

"We were waiting for you." Hinata replied, sticking her tongue out at the two.

"What's Sasuke doing?" Naruto questioned, looking back at the raven.

"Checking the tires real quick, something about the tire pressure or what not." Hinata said.

"I'll wait for him." Naruto said shooing them ahead.

"Okay we'll order then." Neji replied.

"Okay." Naruto replied. Kiba's stayed back with Naruto to talk.

"Dude she's hot as hell!" Kiba whispered to Naruto.

"No!" Naruto simply said.

"Wah! I haven't even said anything yet."

"I'm not gonna help you get with her. Dude she would easily walk over you."

"So?"

"Kiba, bro, no."

"Oh come on."

"No Kiba." Naruto stopped talking as he shunned Kiba.

Kiba pouted slightly, looking at Sasuke whom overheard their conversation and was simply smirking as he walked up. "What is it Uchiha?" Kiba asked skeptically.

"Hn, Hinata would eat you up."

"You know that can be taken many different ways." Neji replied.

"Hn, you dumbass. I mean she's a sadist,"

"So, maybe I like that type." Sasuke shook his head slightly,

"Hn."

"This is gonna be great." Naruto whispered to Sasuke as the group took their seats. Hinata, Kiba and Neji on one side and Gaara, Naruto and Sasuke on the other.

"Hey Naruto, don't Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji always come here?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah." Naruto replied. Naruto leaned towards Sasuke whispering to him, "We should fuck with them."

"You really wanna open that door for Hinata."

"Why not?" Naruto asked.

"Cause she'll destroy you." Sasuke replied.

"Might as well try." Naruto replied, giving a slight laugh.

Hinata curiously looked at the two boys across from her and smiled slightly at the sight in front of her. They probably didn't know how close they were, leaning into one another almost naturally. Naruto looked so innocent and happy, and Sasuke looked so calm and vulnerable. He wasn't tense or on guard like always, and Hinata knew neither of them understood why they were so comfortable.

"My favorite hobby is probably pressing flowers." Hinata said to Kiba.

"Mmph, mine is probably taking walks with my dog, Akamaru. Naruto and Gaara are really into gardening though." Kiba said.

"Hm?" Naruto turned as he overheard his name, "What about Naruto?"

"I was just saying you're into gardening."

"Yeah, I'm always getting on Sasuke for his lack of a garden. Like seriously, what do you call that?"

"Thank you!" Hinata exclaimed, "It kills me that he has all that space and the dirt around his house is perfect for gardening and he doesn't do anything with it!" Hinata exclaimed.

"I'll just stick to meditation." Neji jumped in as he spread the meat onto the grills. "And I train with Gaara a lot."

"For some reason I doubt there's much training going on." Hinata joked.

"Well it does get hot and sweaty." Neji playfully replied with a small wink.

"You wish." Gaara replied.

"This is getting real sexual real fast." Naruto joked.

"Hn? What are you, shy?" Sasuke smirked.

"Of course not!" Naruto exclaimed in embarrassment.

"Of course he is." Kiba replied, Naruto's exaggerated reaction leading to the other's laughing.

"Well what does the cold bastard do in his free time, kick puppies or steal candy from babies?" Naruto asked.

"How overrated, you couldn't just illegally download movies or eat and run." Kiba smiled.

"I know right, he's so unoriginal. I blame it on immortality." Hinata playfully pushed Kiba.

"Well you know, it seems pretty inconvenient." Gaara followed.

"But dying early is so socially acceptable. Who wants to do that?" Neji sarcastically followed, causing everyone to laugh.

"So what do you do Sasuke?" Naruto questioned.

"Take walks." Sasuke replied.

"Really? I mean I get Kiba, he has to walk his dog and it's pretty enjoyable but why?" Naruto asked.

"He just doesn't have any free time Naruto." Neji clarified.

"Well whenever Itachi takes control of Uchiha Corporation I'll travel a lot."

"Really, where?" Naruto questioned.

"We've been ignored." Neji commented.

"Yup. So you have a dog Kiba?"

"Yeah, my family raises them. My personal dog is named Akamaru. He's huge, I can ride him like a horse. He wasn't always that way but a few years ago he just kinda shot up. It was kinda funny, when I first got him he peed on my face, but he's important to me now."

"We don't have any." Hinata replied with a small smile.

"Do siblings count as pets?" Gaara questioned.

"Please Gaara, you're the youngest of the three you have no right!" Hinata joked.

"How about boyfriends?" Gaara followed. Hinata looked at Neji,

"I can agree to that." Hinata gave a small laugh, returning her attention to Kiba, "Neji and I don't keep any pets on the Hyuuga compound, unless, of course, Neji counts." Hinata's smile faded, as she solemnly looked at Kiba, "We can't really keep any because the younger vampires often play rough and would likely hurt them."

"My family's been raising pups for as long as I can remember." Kiba replied, unsure he should continue the conversation based on the look in her eyes.

"Well it's not like we haven't had any." Neji said as he gave himself, Sasuke and Hinata a piece of meat, a similar smile on his face. "It's just harder to care for animals as a vampire because one, they can't sense our presence often times, two, we survive on blood so it's always dangerous because if we were to lose control of our instincts. . . Then there's always the factor of us getting too attached, and it's different with animals because you can't turn an animal, if you try their body will reject the foreign DNA and they'll die. So overall it's just better for us to not hurt ourselves like that." Neji finished.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kiba said shyly.

"No, you have no reason to apologize." Hinata gave a forced smile.

"Just the way it is." Sasuke interjected. Then silence met the table.

"Are you really gonna eat that?" Naruto asked as Sasuke cut into the mostly raw piece of meat, mainly trying to change the topic.

"Oh come on Naru-chan, you're not squeamish are you?" Hinata joked.

"No, I am questioning you eating raw meat, I mean I know you like blood but stooping that low, what are you? Vegetarians." Naruto joked as he shook his head. Kiba withheld a laugh as all three vampires glared at the blonde. Gaara smirked slightly, looking at his boyfriend.

"You asshole." Hinata said with a smile on her face, both surprised and amused.

"You're the one questioning our life style." Neji said.

"Yup." Naruto said as he checked the meat on the grill.

"Well good thing you're not eating it." Sasuke replied playfully.

"Fuck you to, teme." Naruto pouted.

Hinata laughed at the display, "Naruto, I think us normal people are ready to eat." Kiba joked as he grabbed a piece of meat.

"Haha, okay." Naruto smiled as he grabbed a piece.

"My how insulting." Neji sighed giving a piece to Gaara.

"Why do you think I never kiss Neji after he eats?" Gaara asked, everyone laughed loudly in response, both at the comment and the complete lack of emotion Gaara put behind the comment.

"Haha, Gaara I love you sometimes." Naruto joked, wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye.

"Oh that's right, are you guys going next Saturday?" Kiba asked.

"Next Saturday?" Neji asked.

"Oh, I'm going." Gaara said.

"What's happening?" Hinata asked.

"Huh? Naruto's birthday party." Kiba replied, his voice getting lower as he realized Naruto probably hadn't or wasn't going to ask. He spared a glance at Naruto, who didn't seem to mind and gave a small sigh in response.

"Oh really how old are you turning?" Hinata asked.

"19." Naruto replied.

"So about two more years till we start working together." Hinata smiled winking at him.

"Well since someone didn't mention anything, I assume we're not invited, Hinata." Neji feigned insult.

"I didn't hear about it either." Sasuke glared at the blonde.

"Well you see it just never came up, I never had a chance." Naruto shrugged, slightly put off by the glare he was receiving. He scratched his head awkwardly, smiling as he spoke, "Well, will you come? All of you if you want." Naruto asked. "It's next Saturday, starts at 2 and ends whenever, though everyone's planning on staying till about 9 that night."

"I will, though I doubt I'm part of your little affair over there." Hinata smiled.

"I'll go too." Neji smiled.

"Maybe. I'll have to see what I have going on." Sasuke replied.

"Someone's playing hard to get." Hinata joked.

"Sasuke? Hard to get? What a surprise!" Neji sarcastically replied.

"I don't really think that was much of an insult." Gaara said, smiling at Neji.

"Who said I was trying to insult him." Neji pouted.

"Dude, just stop." Kiba laughed.

"Anyway." Hinata sighed as she returned her attention to Kiba. "So you're a hunter, I gather?"

"Yeah, rather, I work with animals, and training them to assist hunters. I haven't graduated yet so as it is I'm not really working directly with the association. I plan on taking up my mother's business, training and selling the dogs."

"What for? Animals can't sense vampires."

"They're trained more for human incidences rather than hunter. We're a family of hunters but we concentrate more on the human aspect, rogue hunters and what not. Though we work with the association as well, currently my parents are helping with the newborn situation."

"That's interesting." Hinata smiled, "I didn't know there were any plans set up for that kind of situation."

"Yeah, you guys don't have something similar?"

"Good question. Hey Sasuke." Hinata turned to the Uchiha.

"Hn?"

"Did we ever have any parameters set up if vampires went rogue?"

Sasuke though for a second before replying, "Not really, I mean if you were a part of one of the clans they chose punishments and what not for certain violators. But, for the most part, there was nothing that was really bad that deserved punishment. You killed another vampire then maybe their mate or clan would go for revenge but there's no concrete rule saying you can't, we're supposed to attack humans and if you broke a rule a specific clan set up then they would decide the punishment. The Uchiha's only rule was really don't attack the clan heads but even then, if you did, you would take up the position of clan head. I can't really think of anything that's an absolute no and has repercussions."

"Mating." Neji said.

"But that's more shunning, and like drinking blood it's just natural not to break that rule." Hinata replied.

"Whoa, wait mating is bad?" Gaara asked.

"Oh don't worry, it's definitely not." Neji smiled, winking at Gaara.

"We don't need to hear that." Hinata sighed.

"The problem is mating with multiple people." Sasuke clarified.

"But there's, it's like, you don't mate with someone who's already mated. It's just a universal law not to do that, it's never really been a problem." Neji explained.

"So it doesn't really count?" Kiba asked.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but yeah, it doesn't count." Hinata explained.

"So, like you guys don't have a police force or anything?" Naruto asked.

"Again, it's not an easy question." Sasuke replied.

"Everyone is basically just free to do whatever they want." Neji explained.

"But it depends on the clan, again." Sasuke replied.

"Okay look, the Uchiha and the Hyuuga have a police force, yes, if that's what you want to call it. They wouldn't exactly take out people who broke any specific rules, we kinda just took out people who threatened us." Hinata followed.

"So basically you killed people who were in your way." Kiba asked.

"At least we did it mutually between our families." Hinata smiled.

"No." Gaara simply said shaking his head at the woman.

"Just eat before your food gets cold." Sasuke said, glaring at the group.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Kiba's nice." Hinata said as she and Sasuke sat in front of the restaurant.

"Hn?" Sasuke said as he curiously looked at Hinata.

"What?" Hinata asked defensively.

"You and a guy, what a miracle."

"What, did you think I was gay like ninety percent of our friends?"

"You? Yeah."

"Shut up." Hinata smiled as she punched Sasuke's arm. Hinata looked curiously at Sasuke,

"What about you? Do you love anyone?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you know. You're surrounded by a lot of girls, and guys."

"No, Hinata, I am not gay or bi."

"So, with all the girls you've been surrounded with, you've never fallen for one?"

"The right one just hasn't come, I guess."

"In what? 100,000 years?"

"Even I'm not that old."

"Whatever. Come on, not one person?"

"No."

"How about me, huh?" Hinata joked, playfully hitting Sasuke's arm.

"No Hinata, just no."

"You don't find that weird? All your life you've just looked at girls, yet not one has caught your attention."

"I don't exactly get around much."

"Still, how close were you with some of these girls? And to not have any romantic feeling?"

"What are you trying to say?" Hinata looked at Sasuke and sighed,

"It's not very fun if you don't figure it out yourself."

"I don't care."

"It's not gonna mean anything if you hear it from me."

"Hinata." Hinata gave an angry growl,

"Fine, you're gay and you're in love with Naruto." Hinata replied.

"Nice try." Sasuke replied, little hesitation in his voice.

"Look Sasuke, I know you better than I need to and Naruto's an open book. I can see it in the way you interact, the way you look at each other, the way you open up around him, the way he explodes around you. And you know what, I don't know him, but I know you. You love him, or you look at him more than a friend, he means more to you than you realize."

"Whatever."

"It's not easy to get past one's sexuality, but you're way too old to be having an identity crisis."

"I don't love Naruto, Hinata." Hinata sighed,

"What if I told you he loves you? Does that change anything?"

Sasuke looked at her for a second then spoke, "Why would it."

"Because it does. Our hearts don't beat, our skin doesn't flush, but our body aches, our head goes light, we get anxious, you may not realize it because these days you're just going through the movements but you love him and you can't go on torturing yourself, torturing him, like this." Sasuke looked at Hinata as she walked off.

"Oh Naruto, what is it?" Hinata asked as she opened the door.

"Oh, um, Kiba and I are about to leave."

"Oh, okay." Sasuke felt Naruto's eyes on him and despite how much he wished to meet the blonde's eyes, he just couldn't.

* * *

Review, fav, follow, you know the drill XD

Now as for the hobbies and what not I got that information from Narutopedia soo.

Well I hope you enjoyed it!


	13. Chapter 12

So I'm trying to get back onto my old schedule of updating every weekend, so, we'll see. I'm trying. Anyway, since I'm trying to update every week there won't be any more extremely long chapters like the last few have been. I made them longer specifically cause I was submitting them later.

How was everyone's Easter? Mine was okay, pretty fun. Well I won't bore you with pretenses, onto the story. Oh yeah, every time I change the P.O.V it might not actually be a change in point of view but just a time skip.

Also, I'm curious, has anyone figured out the triggers behind Sasuke's headaches? There are two. It'll be explained in detail in the next few chapters but I'm curious to see if anyone's figured it out.

* * *

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto loudly groaned as he hugged his head, unable to forget what he'd so innocently overheard. 'You're gay and you're in love with Naruto.' _Sasuke's in love with me, or well Hinata thinks so. There was so much I probably didn't hear, yet, even then, there's no way to misunderstand the words. All I had to do was keep that door open, I could've heard more, maybe understood a little better. But I was so shocked I just shut it, next thing I know, Hinata's opening the door. It could've just been Hinata's opinion, he could've completely shot the idea down; but I just had to shut the door and now I can't just ignore it. So, on the off chance Sasuke does somehow, someway, love me, what do I do? The idea of it, it doesn't disgust or repulse me, I think. I mean it's not like I have a problem with people being gay I mean, Gaara, Neji, Iruka, Kakashi, they're all gay or at least bi. The idea of it doesn't repulse me but it's different when Sasuke's feelings are directed at me. No, I should say I'm flattered but I thought he had dated Naruko, so I could just be a replacement for my sister, couldn't I? _Naruto frowned slightly as he curled up into a ball on his bed, _If Sasuke does love me, how do I feel about him? Well the idea doesn't upset me or make me uncomfortable, actually I'm kinda. . . well, I'm kinda happy . . . _Naruto jumped up in bed, vigorously shaking his head. "I am not happy!" He pouted slightly, falling back onto the bed. "I'm not happy, but I'm definitely not . . ." Naruto loudly whined as he turned on the bed, looking out of the window across his room. "I don't wanna see him tomorrow, not yet."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Kyuubi and I should be arriving in the next few days."

"What? Are you hiking here or something?" Sasuke asked.

"No, we just didn't exactly plan on dropping everything and leaving, so the dates are debatable."

"Really Itachi?"

"I recognize it wasn't the best idea to not be prepared for something like this. How's everything over there?"

"Surprisingly calm. Even Naruto, who's usually a buzz with questions, hasn't said anything about the increase in security."

"Well the kid gets out of school, why complain?"

"Hn. Any more leads on the Akatsuki?"

"Not really. As always Obito holds tight to his secrets."

"How's Onoki?"

"Recovering well. But damn, that old man has some spunk."

"Hn."

"I'm not exactly a nurse so it's not like I'm too concerned with that."

"Yeah, yet I can still imagine you walking around in a nurse's dress with the little hat and everything."

"Pfft! What exactly are you imagining?" Itachi laughed lightly

"Not something I wanna remember." Sasuke cringed.

"Haha! That's great."

"Yeah, thanks for the mental scar."

"Not a problem."

"Maybe for you."

"Haha, has anything happened?" Itachi laughed, smiling as he spoke.

"Hn?"

"No, you're just different, acting different."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not bad, you just seem happier."

"Hn?"

"Maybe I'm wrong, but. . ." Itachi smiled, "Well, never mind. Keep an eye out, okay Sasuke? Definitely now that everyone's starting to calm down."

"Got it."

"Well, for the most part, Kyuubi and I will be staying with Tsunade, so don't worry about preparing us rooms."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Hmph." Itachi gave a small huff, "Now there's my brother."

"Later."

"Course, night Sasuke."

"Yeah." Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, turning off his phone. He lied back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. _One problem down, 99 to go. _Sasuke flinched as he felt his head clench in pain.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~ _

Sasuke ran the chokutō(*) along his hand, taking extra care as to not slice his hand open. He admired the silver blade, using the black hilt to swing the sword around. He closed his eyes as a sense of nostalgia washed over him. He felt his head throb violently, "Shit." He hissed at the pain as he pushed the sword back onto the wall mount sword stand. "Hah." He closed his eyes in irritation, moving away from the wall mount sword and to the clear case in the middle of the room. He grabbed the glass that covered the case, carefully setting it aside. "It's been a long time." He muttered to himself as he grabbed the two katana in the case. Both swords having a silver blade with a black hilt, white diamond shapes moving along the hilt. Sasuke skillfully spun the swords in his hands, he carefully looked over them, shaking his head and leaving the room with the swords in hand.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto sighed as he watched the clouds slide across the sky. He had another training session with Sasuke, luckily Kakashi was able to give him a ride, allowing him to avoid any awkward car conversations. Naruto shook his head slightly, crouching down and looking at the flowers surrounding the Uchiha mansion. _They really are so gorgeous, I wonder who planted them originally, or if they just grew in. I can't say I hate Sasuke, not anymore, but love, even like, is just so out there. If he were to come out here right now and just suddenly confess then how would I feel, how would I respond? _

"Naruto!" Naruto jumped, turning to face Sasuke.

"Wha! W-what? Yeah?"

"Dobe, I've been calling you."

"Huh, what?"

"Are we starting or are you just gonna sit there and watch flowers?"

"Oh sorry," Naruto replied as he jumped to his feet, awkwardly scratching his head as he looked at the ground.

Sasuke looked Naruto over curiously, deciding it wasn't worth his time as he threw one of the swords at the blonde. "Hm? What's this?" Naruto asked as he grabbed the blade's hilt.

"What's it look like."

"Right, sorry." Naruto replied, looking around sheepishly. Sasuke noticed the blonde's odd behavior but, once again, chose to ignore it.

"We've mostly been working with hand to hand but now I want to teach you a little about weaponry, mainly swordsmanship." Naruto nodded as he admired the blade. "Okay first how to hold it. You're right handed, correct?"

"Come on, I know how to use a sword. They at least taught us that much."

"Fine then, show me." Sasuke said as he walked through the grass, bending over and picking up the second blade he had brought with him.

Naruto curiously watched Sasuke as the raven spun the sword in his hand, "Are you serious?"

"What?"

"We're just gonna start?"

"Well if you think you know, and it's been a long time since I've fought with a sword so I'm kinda anxious to start."

"Hm? Do you like using a sword?" Naruto asked.

"It's very nostalgic, I've been using katana for as long as I can remember." Sasuke explained. Naruto smiled slightly, then laughed. "Hn? What's so funny?" Naruto smiled at the raven,

"No, I was just remembering when we were fighting that vampire, back when I was trying to figure out who you were and ended up running away after a fight with Iruka, and you were using a kitchen knife to fight." Naruto laughed at the memory.

"It was the only thing I had on hand at the time."

"How?" Naruto snickered.

"I was cutting open some bags." Naruto ignored the statement and continued laughing. "I've used a fork before, you gotta use what you can get your hands on, definitely in the moment."

"A fork? How the fuck did that work?" Naruto laughed.

"Actually you were there, though you don't remember."

"It was that time I fell unconscious behind a club, wasn't it!?"

"Yeah."

"What the fuck even happened?"

"You fell unconscious after a vampire drunk from you and I saved your sorry ass with a fork." Naruto laughed at the comment.

"Ah, wait what happened to my jacket."

"Kinda became a rag." Sasuke replied.

"Dude! That was my favorite jacket!" Naruto laughed loudly, "You bastard." He smiled at Sasuke, "You owe me a new one."

"Maybe." Sasuke replied with a small smirk.

"Okay, come on, let's go, I'm fired up now." Naruto said as he swung the sword in his hand.

"Fine." Sasuke stretched, gripping the sword harshly. "Let's go."

Naruto swung the sword down at Sasuke, Sasuke followed by swinging his sword up and parrying the blow. Faster than Naruto could see, Sasuke jabbed his sword forward, Naruto just barely dodged hitting Sasuke's sword away with his own. Sasuke spun as his attack was thrown off. He fiercely brought his sword to Naruto's right side, the blonde swiping the attack down. Sasuke smiled at the blonde,

"I must be losing my touch."

"Well a couple hundred years will do that to you."

"Hn. Let's see then, shall we?"

"We shall." Naruto smiled happily as he prepared another strike. Naruto lunged forward with his blade, Sasuke catching the strike and shifting his own blade, in turn throwing the sword from the blonde's hand and into the ground a few feet away. "Tch." Sasuke lunged at Naruto, the blonde dodging the strike but not without the blade slicing his cheek. Naruto rolled away from Sasuke jumping at his sword, Sasuke caught Naruto before he could get the blade, pushing the boy down and stabbing the blade next to the boy's head. Naruto loudly groaned, "Ugh, I hate you." Naruto pouted.

"Sure you do." Sasuke gave a small smirk. Naruto got on his elbows, watching the raven walk away.

"Teme." Naruto lightly called, he sighed as he fell back on the grass. "Shit." The boy loudly groaned as he hugged his head.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke parked his car, Naruto had already been picked up and Sasuke was currently at the mall. "Why am I doing this?" The raven complained as he walked through the parking lot, pulling his phone out as he felt it vibrate. "Hello."

"Hi, hi."

"Hinata." Sasuke inwardly groaned, "What is it?"

"I'm bored, what are you doing?"

"None of your business, you?"

"Hunting a newborn, this damn guy is so cheeky."

"Hn?"

"He's so positive he lost me."

"Are you sure he's alone?"

"Of course."

"Hn."

"Come on, I'm one-third your age, I have some experience."

"Hn, you wish."

"Dude I'm 8,000 years old, give or take a few years."

"Yeah and I'm not 24,000 years old, try again."

"Older or younger?"

"Really?"

"Come on."

"Fine, older."

"Dude! Really!"

"Keep trying Hinata."

"Damn."

"What do you want?"

"Hoping we could hunt together like old times, you doing anything important?"

"Well call your cousin because I am doing something."

"This isn't any fun, I need entertainment." Hinata whined.

"Too bad."

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing- ah." Sauske turned as his path was blocked,

"Free sample sir?" A woman asked as she held a plate of food to the Uchiha.

"No, thank you." Sasuke glared as he pulled the phone back to his ear.

"Are you at the mall?" Hinata asked. "Here I am, working like a good person, while you're spending your time shopping? And you are unable to come and help out your dear friend, how insulting."

"Do you think I would willingly be at the mall?"

"Hm? Who dragged you out?"

"Hn."

"Come on, tell me."

"Hn."

"You're with your lover aren't you?"

"My lover?"

"Naruto, dumbass."

"No, I'm not with Naruto."

"Come on, I deserve to know why you won't be helping me."

"Or I could just hang up."

"Fine, I'll just meet you there."

"What about your hunt?"

"What about it? I can make it quick and easy, I'm just entertaining myself right now."

"I don't plan on being here long."

"Well, I'll be there anyway, if you don't tell me."

"I hate you." Sasuke glared at the phone.

"Good, now spill."

"I'm buying Naruto's birthday present."

"Oh, really." Hinata commented in amusement.

"It's common courtesy."

"What are you getting him?"

"I don't really know. He mentioned a jacket earlier, and the way he was looking at the katana he was really entranced. Granted Iruka would kill me if I got him something like that."

"Why?"

"He may be a hunter but he's still under Iruka's roof. Iruka doesn't want something like that in his home."

"I guess, kinda surprised he lets Naruto spend time with something like you."

"I'm not an object."

"Yeah, the proper word is a tool."

"Bitch."

"Love you two, but seriously, you're really thinking about this, aren't you?"

"No, it was just small observations."

"Got anything for me to get him?"

"I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"Because he's your boyfriend."

"Are we still on that? I don't love him."

"Yeah, yeah, stop denying it."

"Hn."

"But seriously, I'm gonna buy him an Xbox 360 and Neji's gonna get the games."

"I can sense the subtly." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Of course."

"I have to go, I gotta get this over with before the store closes."

"Can you even find weapons at the mall?"

"Not likely, I'm just gonna get the jacket here then give him one of my katana."

"Well you won't find better quality, that's for sure. What about the flea market? You could definitely find some swords there."

"I really don't wanna be driving everywhere."

"It's for your Naru-chan."

"Hn." Sasuke rolled his eyes as he ended the call. He huffed in irritation and looked up as he walked into the first store, beginning his search.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Are you kidding me?" Sasuke said in irritation as he slouched in an empty chair at the food court. He'd looked everywhere and hadn't found anything. Irritated, Sasuke jumped to his feet, "Whatever it's not that important." He complained to himself as he began walking to the front of the mall. "Urgh." Sasuke groaned to himself as he returned to the mall's interior then raised a curious eyebrow as a samurai sword caught his attention. _Someone actually sells swords? _Sasuke looked curiously at the store, it seemed to be mostly anime and manga stuff inside. _Might as well._ The raven entered the store, walking over to the array of swords. He grabbed a nearby one, admiring the blade. _It's not too sharp, it'd be perfect for training. _Sasuke swung the sword, testing its handling. _Not bad. _He grabbed another sword, testing it out, stopping when a particular blade caught his eye. He pulled the sword out. The sword's hilt was made of a painstakingly familiar red, with black diamond shapes moving across the hilt. The guard was dark silver with indents of similar colored vines, golden leaves sticking out among the intricate design. The sheath was pure black with a similar red ribbon tied carefully around it. Sasuke admired the blade for several minutes, finally grabbing the hilt and lightly swinging the sword. He began petting the red, _he probably won't recognize it Kushina . . ., _Sasuke returned the sword to its sheathe and proceeded to the check out.

"Well one down, one to go." Sasuke commented as he left the store, he checked his watch for the time, he had a little less than an hour before the mall closed. _Do I really need something else?_ Sasuke questioned silently then decided he probably did, _Iruka would be pissed if I gave this to Naruto, it's probably better to give it to him another time. _Sasuke shook his head, wishing the thoughts away.

"Hey." Sasuke nearly jumped at the voice, just barely catching himself as he turned to face the source.

"Suigetsu."

"Yeah." Suigetsu replied as he pulled a lollipop from his mouth, "Well you're the last person I expected to see here."

"Hn. I had to get some stuff." Sasuke replied, "You?"

"Video games." Suigetsu said, showing his bag.

"Why is everyone so infatuated with video games?" Sasuke mumbled.

"Hm?"

"Talking to myself." Sasuke replied, "So where have you been? Haven't seen you much."

"You know how Tsunade views us turned vampy."

"Maybe if you didn't say vampy?"

"Haha!" Suigetsu laughed as he began walking with Sasuke. "Can't be helped, breaking our backs to make her hunters seem less incompetent is just the price for safety."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow to Suigetsu, "Hn. What've you been doing?"

"Sentry duty."

"Hn."

"You?"

"Guard duty."

"Hm, person?"

"Yeah."

"Sounds fun, how much longer you gonna be?"

"Depends how long it takes me to find what I'm looking for. It's been about 3 hours though and I still haven't found it."

"What could you possibly be looking for?"

"A jacket, hoodie, something."

"That's not too hard to find."

"Yeah, that's what I though. I just haven't found the right one."

"Hm, you seem to be pretty serious about this."

"What do you mean?"

"To be doing this much for a simple jacket. You're surely passionate about it."

"Well, it's. . ." Sasuke bit his lip, Suigetsu was right, why was he being so picky about a damn jacket? It's not like he hadn't seen any nice jackets, he was the reason he wasn't home yet. "I guess I'm just being picky."

"Oh, an Uchiha, being picky? My, what a surprise."

"I could've done without the sarcasm." Suigetsu gave a small smile,

"Sorry, it's not in my nature."

"Seriously you, Neji, Hinata. Why is everyone around my so sarcastic and sadistic."

"On the contrary, I like a little pain."

"Please don't tell me that."

"Haha! Well let's see me, Neji, Hinata, you, Itachi, we're all sarcastic assholes, I wonder why."

"Hn, I blame immortality."

"I was about to say Kyuubi isn't but that's not exactly true, is it."

"He's better than us."

"Meh, Itachi rubbed off on him."

"True." Sasuke nodded in response, "I think I'll get that, then." Sasuke stopped, pointing at a jacket hanging in front of a random store.

"Hm, that's not very picky."

"Well I saw it a few times but I wasn't sure it was really what I wanted." Sasuke replied.

"Really though, that color orange?"

"Hn. It's fine." Sasuke replied, entering the store. "Later, have fun on sentry duty."

"Yeah. . ." Suigetsu smiled, shaking his head in amusement and walking off. Sasuke stopped, grabbing the dark orange hoodie with black flames at the bottom and black sleeves.

"This should do fine."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke lied on his couch as Nirvana's, 'Smells like Teen Spirit', rang through his office. He looked at the packs of paper next to the couch, lying on the coffee table. He had so much work to do but he just couldn't convince himself to do it. Today, despite everything, had been a rare good day. He barely had any headaches, and despite spending so much time at the mall, more than he wanted, he didn't feel like it was a waste. The day began and Naruto was acting so awkward and uncomfortable, putting Sasuke on edge, but like always the atmosphere almost immediately changed when they actually starting interacting. Then, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't hate the time he spent talking with Hinata and Suigetsu. He usually hated being forced to interact with people but today he kinda enjoyed it, he enjoyed himself. It'd been happening a lot lately, he was enjoying himself, enjoying his life. _The last time I felt like that? Well, I enjoyed my time with Naruko and them but it wasn't exactly like this. It was different then, I can't compare it but. . . This feels like. . ._ Sasuke's head throbbed. _Like? _It hurt. _Why is it different?_ 'You're gay and you're in love with Naruto.' 'What if I told you he loves you? Does that change anything?' _Hah, why did I go so far today just to buy a damn jacket? I'll admit, I've done some stuff for the dobe that was outta my way but it was just for, it was just because of my position as his bodyguard, or because it would benefit me later. So why, today? _Sasuke grabbed a remote from the ground, using it to turn the speakers up._ What if Naruto loves me? So what if he does? I don't wanna make this job anymore awkward like that. No, if he loved me. . . _His head lurched and he could no longer ignore it, he tumbled off the couch in pain, his head violently clenching. "Gah! Ah! Hah!"

/

"Sasuke?" Sasuke looked up from his work to see a young boy in front of him. The boy had spiked black hair, similar black eyes and a smile plastered on his face.

"Obito, what is it?"

"Will you help me train today?"

"I don't know. I have a lot of work to do."

Obito pouted, "You're working, Itachi's working, and Kyuubi has a mission."

"Sorry kiddo, I shouldn't be long though." Obito stuck his tongue out, running from the room.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Hn." Sasuke gathered his papers and left his office in the Uchiha's head house. He stopped at a door, giving a solid knock.

"Come in." The ever so irritating voice replied.

"I finished _your_ paperwork, Itachi." Sasuke said as he entered the room, violently slapping the papers onto Itachi's desk.

"Thanks."

"Yup, you owe me."

"Oh come on my dear little brother, you know you like being ordered around."

"I hate you." Sasuke glared at his brother. "Well I'm done for the day."

"Gonna play with Obito?"

"Well since mommy and daddy abandoned him I guess I don't have a choice." Sasuke replied.

"Ah, Obito's so cute, why can't you be more like him. You use to be so cute when you were younger."

"Pedophilia isn't allowed Itachi."

"Ah, but thankfully incest is."

"Don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Meh Kyuubi refuses to mate so for now he's a friend with benefits."

"I'll make sure to clear that up with him."

"Don't you dare."

"We'll see." Sasuke smirked, winking at his older brother as he left the room.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Oh Kyuubi, you're back." Sasuke called as he left the Uchiha home, the red haired, red eyed man, crouching next to the young Uchiha.

"Yeah, just finished. We're all good. The hunters are gone, though I gotta admit that damn scouting party was enthusiastic as hell." Kyuubi complained as he stretched his arms, standing up.

"Good job as always."

"Well it wouldn't be very advantageous if the compound was found."

"I'm still curious how they got so deep into vampire territory."

"They were skilled, gotta admit as much."

"But you were better." Sasuke smirked.

"Course." Sasuke rolled his eyes playfully as he sat next to Obito, on the ground. Kyuubi fixed his position so he could properly sit next to Obito and Sasuke.

"When will I start taking on missions?" Obito asked as he looked between Sasuke and Kyuubi.

"Never, hopefully." Kyuubi smiled solemnly as he ran his hand through Obito's hair.

"I thought you wanted to take up Itachi's position Obito." Sasuke questioned.

"I do, but I gotta gain experience first, right?"

"We'll see kiddo." Kyuubi smiled.

"Ah, my love, your back!" Itachi exclaimed as he jumped Kyuubi.

"Don't you have work to do?" Sasuke questioned, covering the oblivious Obito's eyes as Itachi began ravishing his lover.

"I can finish it later." Itachi replied, taking a moment to look at Sasuke.

"Well at least don't have sex in front of the kid, or me for that matter."

"Wanna join?" Itachi said suggestively, getting a responding punch from Kyuubi.

"Enough of that." Kyuubi growled. Itachi quickly submitted,

Sasuke gave a small whistle, "My, isn't someone being agreeable today."

"Otherwise I won't get laid." Itachi glared at his younger brother.

"Not in front of the kid!" Kyuubi yelled as he began scolding his lover. Sasuke couldn't hold back, falling into the dirt as he harshly laughed. Obito just sitting, looking completely confused by the entire situation and only amusing the raven more. This was Sasuke's happiness.

/

"Hah, ah, hah." Sasuke heaved as his pain subsided, his heart clenched at the memory, his body aching in sorrow and yet he couldn't feel anything, a familiar numbness returning. He didn't want to relive those times.

"Guess whose home!" A voice escalated through the Uchiha manor as Itachi slammed through the younger Uchiha's office, stopping immediately as he saw Sasuke doubled over in pain. He ran to his brother, grabbing his shoulders. "Sasuke?!"

* * *

(*) So apparently Sasuke's original sword is called a chokutō, which is a straight, one-edged Japanese Sword. If you can't tell, the sword is based off of Sasuke's Sword of Kusanagi.

The other Katana have no particular significance to the original Naruto story, except the one Sasuke bought because the red reminded him of Kushina's red hair and the shield because Naruto, and Naruko's, favorite hobby was gardening.

So feel free to ask any questions, and see if you've figured out the two triggers behind Sasuke's headaches.

Review, fav, follow, you know the drill XD Until next week.


	14. Chapter 13

So I'm gonna try every two weeks, I really wanna get a schedule going but I'm a mixture of busy and lazy definitely since testing is coming up, and this chapter ended up longer than I wanted .

Disclaimer.

Warning: Mature Sexual Content! Mature Language! (If you don't wanna read it I put a warning in the P.O.V. change cause it basically starts from the beginning. Tell me if you want me to continue doing this, if not then I won't.)

So yeah, we get a nice little scene that has made me extremely self-conscious.

Yeah the Daily Life Arc is over so now we can rip them apart just as they're starting to come to terms with their feelings ^~^

* * *

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Hah, I'm fine. It's settling down." Sasuke pushed Itachi off of him, sliding back onto the couch.

"What was that?" Itachi questioned,

"Nothing. Why are you here?" Sasuke growled.

"I had to visit you when I arrived, of course. Granted that wasn't the scene I was expecting. What's going on Sasuke?" Itachi asked as he slumped back against the table.

Sasuke looked his brother over, he hadn't changed at all. "Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing. Tell me."

"Look, you just got into town, let's not bring this up." Itachi glared at his younger brother but decided not to pry.

"Man, here I wanted to have a nice home coming."

"Well, sorry I ruined that."

"You better be." Itachi pouted as he lied his head back against the table.

"Where's Kyuubi?"

"Dropping our stuff off at Tsunade's, he'll be here in a bit."

"And, why are you here again?"

"What, I can't visit my dear brother?"

"How long are you, 'visiting,' exactly?"

"Just for tomorrow, we do have work, unlike some people."

"Yeah, which you interrupted, thanks. So are you gonna stop in on anyone else?"

"Who else is there?"

"I don't know; Kakashi, Iruka, Neji, Hinata, Naruto."

"Yeah, I hear you're pretty close with the blonde Hokage heir."

"Hn, just doing my job."

"But I thought you failed when your identity was found out."

"Hn."

"Fine then. But yeah, it's probably not a bad idea to stop in and greet some people. Naruto's a must, I've heard some good things about Kakashi then I haven't seen Neji or Hinata for a while. Neh Sasuke, you know what?"

"Hn?"

"We should have a greeting party, just invite everyone at once."

"Hell no."

"I'm kidding. I probably couldn't handle it either. Well, first we have to be updated by Tsunade and we have to update her but honestly there's nothing to really report, on either side. Then Naruto to, since I'll be working with him."

"For now let's just get you settled in."

"True, true. Are you coming with me to talk to Tsunade?"

"Why?"

"In case you have anything to say, and either way, I need you to show me and Kyuubi around."

"I don't think I have anything planned tomorrow." Sasuke pulled out his phone, checking tomorrow's schedule. He had training with Naruto at 4:00 but, he didn't really want to see the blonde, not yet at least. "I can go." Sasuke said as he shut his phone.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Yo."

"Is that honestly how you answer a phone, dobe?" Naruto pouted slightly, then smiled,

"Course." Naruto gave a slight laugh as he lied on his bed, flipping through a manga, "It's rare for you to call me. You sound weird over the phone."

"Hn. Thanks." Naruto gave a small snicker,

"Yup."

"Anyway, I can't train you tomorrow."

"Hm? Why?"

"My brother arrived this afternoon, I gotta show him around tomorrow."

"Okay, too bad." Naruto replied.

"Hn. That doesn't mean you can laze around. 500 sit-ups, 200 pushups and practice your kicks, they're still pretty weak."

"Hah!? No way in hell!" Naruto screamed as he jumped to his feet.

"Sorry, is it too much?" Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Teme!" Naruto cursed, "Fine, just so I can shove it in your face."

"Have fun," Sasuke said, hanging up.

"Gugh." Naruto pouted slightly as he flopped back onto his bed. He rolled over on his bed, giving a heavy sigh, grabbing a pillow and throwing it into the air, catching it as it fell back down. He grabbed the pillow from the air, hugging it, why was he disappointed? Naruto sighed again, rolling over, he was also a little relieved . . . what exactly was he even feeling anymore? Naruto growled slightly as he picked up his phone, _whatever_, _maybe I'm in love. Why not!_ He grabbed his phone and composed a message to the one person he thought could help him figure it out,

_When did you realize you were in love with Neji?_

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~ _

"Hn, I see time hasn't been kind to you." Itachi smiled as he stood with Sasuke in the Hokage's office. Tsunade withheld her growing anger, long use to the raven's antics.

"Nice to see you." Tsunade spoke through clenched teeth. Itachi smiled playfully, hugging his brother's neck.

"Hah, it's nice to be back."

"Good for you." Sasuke growled, throwing Itachi off.

Tsunade rolled her eyes, standing in front of the two Uchiha. "Kyuubi updated me on the situation. I'm glad Onoki is doing better, but still . . ."

"It's odd, they haven't moved." Sasuke replied as he slumped into a nearby chair.

"I don't understand it either. I mean it could have been a diversion but, why? Maybe they did just attack Onoki because he was in their way but then that brings up the question of how he was in their way. Every solution seems to lead to more questions." Itachi explained.

"I've thought of everything, I have no clue what he could be planning. Granted, I can't say I remember much about our time together." Sasuke followed.

"I have theories but, even then, I still can't figure out how the Uzumaki-Namikaze fit in, and their reason for such a long break." Itachi explained.

"What theories?" Tsunade asked.

"Oh, you know, the basics; world domination, mass genocide, revenge. But he only wants revenge against the Uchiha yet they've made no move against me or Sasuke and Izuna says there've been no attacks on the compound." Itachi informed the others, shrugging slightly, "I really have nothing for you, Tsunade." Itachi replied.

"Too bad." Tsunade smiled at the two, "Well, you two should probably be heading out now, you have plans for today, no?" Itachi and Sasuke curiously looked at Tsunde but silently agreed to not pry.

"Yeah." Tsunade nodded, motioning for the two brothers to leave. As the door shut she turned, grabbing her desk and flinging it across the room in anger. She gave an exasperated sigh and slumped to her knees, appreciative that no one was entering her office. Despite the Akatsuki targeting Naruto, no matter what they did, it was all useless. She was so terrified, so terrified they would make it too late.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked as he opened the door.

"Hey Naru-chan." Hinata smiled at the boy.

"How do you even know where I live?"

"Shut up and invite me in already." Hinata replied, forcing herself into the house.

"Sure, come on in." Naruto grumbled.

"Hm? Where's Iruka and Kakashi?" Hinata said as she looked around the house.

"Iruka's making some worksheets for when we return to school and Kakashi's working. I wonder when we're going back to school. I mean how long does it take to get rid of a few newborns?" Naruto replied as he led her to his room.

"Hm, well, there's more to it. You see we need to find the reason why so many newborns have appeared and we're doing a lot of security checks, to see why so many newborns were able to get into Konoha. Even more, with so many high ranking officials in Konoha they need to make sure there aren't any openings." Hinata smiled, _Sorry Naru-chan, at least it's partially true._

"Now that you mention it, why are so many people coming to Konoha? I mean Sasuke and Neji came to watch over me, apparently, but what about you and Sasuke's brother?" Naruto replied.

"You see Sasuke and Itachi are constantly switching power and Neji is pretty separated from the clan, in recent years. Since everyone is constantly going at their own pace we never really get a chance to meet up and discuss things with the association. However, Sasuke and Neji were called back to watch over you, and some things happened in the capital which required Itachi and my presence, for the first time in a while everyone was reachable."

"What happened in the capital?" Naruto enthusiastically asked.

"Sasuke's right, you always have some question."

"Sorry." Naruto said looking away bashfully. "It's just, Sasuke never really talks to me about this stuff. He'll explain the basics, but it's hard to get him to answer specifics."

"Hm." Hinata smiled, "How odd, well, a council clan leader got sick and we had to check up on him. Had he died then we would have had to choose a successor. Itachi arrived first and then the man ended up getting better, I wasn't there but I was already on the road so Tsunade just called everyone here so we could go over some matters."

"Oh." Naruto replied, seemingly deep in thought.

"What is it?" Hinata asked.

"Why would you and Itachi decide the successor?"

"Because we were the only leaders available at the time. Any clan head can be chosen based on sweet words and misplaced lies, so when a clan on the council needs a successor one of the Noble Clan heads choose in order to choose someone who won't be overtaken by influence and power. Well, enough of that."

"Huh?"

"What, no tea?" Hinata asked as she stretched out on the bed.

"Um, sure."

"Idiot. It's fine." Hinata said, giving a small laugh, she sighed, surveying Naruto.

"What is it?" Naruto asked as he hesitantly sat at a nearby desk.

"Just thinking how sad it is."

"What?"

"Out of all the people around you, you fall in love with Sasuke, how pitiful." Hinata smiled, Naruto flushed a deep red.

"I-I don't-!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hm? What was your message again? When did you realize you were in love? How did you know when you were in love? Something along those lines."

"S-shut up, i-it's not like that!"

"That day, you had overheard me and Sasuke talking, hadn't you?" Naruto looked the girl over before hesitantly nodding,

"Only a bit."

"Neji, Gaara and I were having lunch together. Gaara showed us the text. I'm guessing whatever is going through your mind is there because of me." Hinata shrugged, "So I'll take responsibility."

"Take responsibility?"

"I'll help you, idiot."

"Yeah there's a reason I didn't ask you or Neji." Naruto replied.

"What happens today stays between us." Hinata smirked.

"You didn't have to make it sound so inappropriate." Naruto grumbled.

Hinata gave a small smile, turning as an image caught her eye. She lied on her side, smiling at the picture. "That's a surprise."

"What?" Naruto asked. Hinata grabbed the picture, holding it above her head, "Oh." Naruto solemnly looked down, then smiled, "Did you know them." Hinata set the picture down, then rolled over to face Naruto.

"Not like Sasuke, but yes." Hinata saw the apprehensive look in Naruto's eyes. "I saw your mother and father around, I can't say I knew them well, I only met them once or twice. Your father was very sincere." Hinata smiled fondly, "You understand, for the longest time vampires were discriminated against in the association, it only really changed when your father and the third hokage began integrating vampires into the hunter society. Even then though, you can't just change old ideals. We were all familiar with the names, the looks, and the hate. Your parents were so, so much worse." Hinata desperately clenched her eyes, trying not to remember, "When your father met me he smiled, he didn't say anything, and he just smiled and shook my hand. Your mother was much more dynamic, much louder. She laughed," Hinata gave a small amused huff, "She laughed when we met, and she rubbed my head. She said how I was so beautiful, how I was so young, then she said how she knew, as a vampire, I was probably older than her but she said that I reminded her of her daughter. She grabbed my cheeks and asked your father, he laughed and told her to stop bugging me." Hinata shook the memory away, "It was a first, to be treated so familiarly. I will never forget, Naruto you need to understand that your father and mother were like saints in the vampire community because they just didn't care who we were, and that meant everything to us." Naruto smiled fondly at the vampire, shutting his eyes as he imagined the scene,

"Thank you." Hinata smiled as she jumped up, ruffling his hair,

"I guess in some ways, you're just like your sister."

"How?" Hinata jumped back onto the bed,

"Now your sister I knew well, she and Sasuke were tied at the waist. You never saw one without the other."

"How did Sasuke know my sister? He never talks about it."

"Sasuke was one of those lost souls who your father made it his mission to protect." Hinata looked over Naruto solemnly, "I shouldn't tell you this, Sasuke should."

"Tell me what?"

Hinata smiled at the boy, a smile dripping with sadness. "Your father had enlisted Sasuke to be the family's bodyguard, and when Minato became the hokage, Sasuke was assigned to protecting Naruko."

"Hm, history repeats itself then?" Naruto said.

"You have no idea." Hinata smiled, "Naruko fell in love with Sasuke, just as you have, Sasuke turned her down and things grew increasingly awkward between the two until Naruko finally discharged Sasuke, she never hired another bodyguard."

"So that night?"

Hinata smiled, her words dripping with deceit, "Sasuke wasn't there."

"I didn't think he was, I just, I don't understand why he's so hesitant about it."

"He blames himself for the fight with Naruko. He wasn't there to protect them."

"It's not his fault."

"We know that, but he doesn't. Just try not to bring it up," Hinata gave a sly smile, "We wouldn't want to dig up anything."

"That explains a lot." Naruto replied, "Hinata, why did you come?"

"I just wanted to see where you stand, Naruto, I'd do anything to protect Sasuke, I just want to see where your feelings lie."

"Well?"

"Please do tell me, I told you a little about Sasuke's past, if he knew he'd kill me so you have leverage now."

Naruto looked at Hinata, "I don't know. . . I, I think I love him. My feelings change so easily, my heart aches, no matter how we fight I'm still happy. . . It's hopeless though, he barely looks at me outside his work." Hinata smiled at the confession,

"So you're going to give up?"

"I don't, I don't know if I even love him, I don't really understand."

"I feel that's answer enough. Naruto, it could be envy, rivalry, friendship, family, appreciation, you could feel all these but you wanna know what makes it all different from love?"

"What?"

"If it's love then you'll crave his body."

"W-Wah! What?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You'll want him to touch you, to be touched by him, the feeling of his hands. You'll crave for it."

"That could simply be lust, couldn't it?"

"Well, that still means you're gay." Hinata smiled, "Hand me your phone."

"Hm?" Naruto listened.

"Even then, whether it be love or lust you still have to be prepared for the physical aspect. Kissing, touching, caressing, biting, sucking, these are all part of a relationship. That's what defines sexuality, what step are you ready to take before it's no longer natural."

"How can touching a man feel natural!?"

Hinata smiled, "How do you know touching a woman is natural? Because that's what society says? Sexuality isn't black and white, Naruto, what feels natural to you? What feels right? What excites you, forget who you're supposed to look at, forget what's acceptable. Think about what you want."

"I-it's not that easy." Naruto replied.

"You're just making it that hard. What do you think of breasts?"

"H-honestly?"

"Yeah."

"I feel they would just, kinda, get in the way. . . I mean they're basically just lumps of fat I don't really see the point."

"I'm not saying that's answer enough, but it's not so hard for you to discern, Naruto; and maybe your aren't gay and it's just Sasuke, what's wrong with that? I mean, of course, if you do love him."

Naruto simply nodded, "Thanks. . ."

"Here." Hinata said handing back the boys phone.

"What'd you need it for?"

"I put my number in, and got my payment for today." Hinata smiled flashing her phone. Naruto looked at his screen, noticing Kiba's contact was open. He watched Hinata curiously as she left, jumping when he heard the doorbell, sighing he stood up and walked to the living room.

"Why are you here?" Naruto jumped as he recognized the voice.

"Sasuke? I thought we weren't training today." Naruto said as he ran to the door, noticing that Hinata had been the one to open it.

"I was just talking about a small matter with Naruto." Hinata smiled, rubbing the blonde's head.

"Hn." Sasuke said glaring at Hinata. Naruto admired the two men at Sasuke's side. Itachi, whom Naruto immediately recognized due to him similarity to Sasuke, stood tall and gently smiled when he noticed Naruto's eyes. The other man had long, dark red hair that was cut in heavy layers and reached to his chest, slightly longer than Itachi's. His eyes were a deep red that seemed to pierce through Naruto, his bangs reaching just below his eyes and pushed to the side.

"Ah, Itachi, Kyuubi!" Hinata exclaimed hugging the two. "Long time no see." She laughed.

"Ah, my sweet little sister." Itachi squealed, picking her up and hugging her.

"Why was she here?" Sasuke questioned Naruto as the others began enthusiastically catching up.

"Oh, I just wanted to ask her something."

"What was it?" Sasuke asked, "You could've asked me."

"No, it was something. . ." Naruto looked away bashfully.

"What?" Sasuke said, grabbing the blonde's wrist.

"OW! It was really nothing!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Guh!" Sasuke exclaimed as Kyuubi hit the back of his head,

"And what are you doing."

"N-nothing." Sasuke moaned.

"You must be Naruto." Kyuubi smiled a foxy grin, shaking the boy's hand, "I'm Kyuubi, the handler." Kyuubi said, glaring at Sasuke, who angrily looked at the wall.

"Naruto." Naruto replied, looking curiously between Kyuubi and Sasuke.

"Awh, why so angry." Itachi cooed as he jumped on Sasuke's back, pulling at his cheeks.

"Enough." Sasuke hissed, pushing Itachi off.

"Hmph. So rude." Itachi huffed pushing into Naruto,

"Sasuke's always like that lately, it's so heartbreaking." Hinata sighed as she stood next to Sasuke.

"Maybe it's time for you to leave." Sasuke growled,

"But it's finally starting to liven up around here." Hinata smiled, pinching Sasuke's nose.

"So this is the young Hokage heir." Itachi smiled, surveying Naruto. "He's so cute!" Itachi exclaimed, hugging the boy. Naruto felt a sudden pain on his shoulder as Itachi harshly grabbed it. Naruto gave a small whimper, "Please, do stop making things so complicated for my brother." Itachi hissed, surprise taking everyone in the room as Sasuke harshly pulled Naruto into his chest,

"Enough." Sasuke hissed at his brother.

Itachi straightened up as he collected himself, smiling softly, "Now I get it. I apologize Naruto, you see I'm extremely protective of my dearest brother but it seems I misunderstood. I just hear rumors, I need to not be so gullible it seems.

"We came to talk to Iruka and Kakashi, are they here, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, tightening his grip on the boy's shoulders as he glared at his brother.

"Iruka is, Kakashi isn't, do you want me to go get him?"

"Just tell him we're here but to continue his work, we'd like to talk with you for a minute, Naruto." Itachi smiled, sitting on the couch.

"Sasuke?" Naruto questioned as the raven still hadn't let go of him.

"Sasuke, enough." Hinata whispered at the man, slightly pulling at his wrists. Sasuke released the blonde, following Hinata into the living room.

Naruto's eyes curiously following the raven, "Naruto, mind if I join you?" Naruto looked up at Kyuubi,

"Oh, no, come on." Naruto said as he began walking to Iruka's office.

Kyuubi playfully bumped Naruto's head, "Don't look so concerned, that's just how those two brothers are." Kyuubi smiled.

"Oh, no, I was just thinking about how alike Sasuke and Itachi are."

"Huh? Really? You think so?" Kyuubi questioned.

"Well it's more appearance wise than anything."

"Well you know, Naruto, we're brothers."

"Who?"

"Me and you. We're from the same clan so we're technically brothers. So, if you need anything feel free to ask and I'll happily help. Definitely when it's related to those two brothers."

"Oh? Really, thank you." Naruto smiled.

"Of course." Kyuubi smiled.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"So you found him then?" Itachi questioned.

"Found who?" Sasuke asked as he lied his head on the back of the couch.

"Your mate." Sasuke glared at his brother,

"It's none of your business."

"He's not ready, I think." Hinata smirked.

"Which one?" Itachi questioned.

"Well Sasuke denies it but Naru-chan's cultivating the idea." Hinata explained.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke questioned.

"Nothing." Itachi smiled.

"What's up?" Kyuubi questioned as he and Naruto entered the room.

"Neh, Naruto, how old are you?" Itachi asked.

"Hm? What's this about?"

"Humor me."

"I'm 18, turning 19 at the end of the week." Naruto explained as he sat next to Sasuke.

"A little young, but." Itachi shrugged.

"Huh?" Naruto questioned.

"Oh nothing, are you having a party?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun." Naruto exclaimed happily.

"Are we invited?" Itachi asked.

"Huh? Sure if you wanna come, Hinata and Neji said they were."

"Oh, what about you Sasuke." Kyuubi asked.

"He's already gone birthday shopping." Hinata said, Sasuke glaring at the girl.

"Really?" Naruto questioned.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, leaning on his hand.

Naruto smiled, refusing to admit that it made him happy, if only a bit. "Hm? I was wondering do vampires celebrate birthdays, when's yours Sasuke?" Naruto questioned.

"I don't remember, there's really not a reason to celebrate when we never stop aging."

"It's July 23rd, give or take a few days, calendars are always changing." Itachi replied.

"Oh," Naruto smiled at the raven, "It's already passed but we should celebrate it next time."

"Why would we?" Sasuke asked.

"Why not? Birthdays are meant to celebrate the fact that you were born, and you're here now. You guys would come if we threw a party, right?" Naruto asked the others, everyone, even Sasuke, obviously surprised by his declaration.

"Of course." Itachi smiled.

"I still don't particularly see the benefit in it." Sasuke replied.

"Come on now, don't look down on yourself like that." Sasuke's eyes grew in shock, but he just simply gave a small laugh,

"Despite not wanting to celebrate mine, if it's to celebrate you then I just can't pass it up, can I?" Everyone went wide-eyed at the declaration, bashfully looking away.

"Ah, I give up." Itachi exclaimed, "When I see that, I can't do anything but give my blessing, right?"

"Who's asking for it?" Sasuke replied. Naruto becoming even more embarrassed as the words registered.

"Stop messing with them already, Itachi." Kyuubi glared at the eldest raven, who begrudgingly submitted.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Well, that's finally done." Sasuke growled as he collapsed on his couch. Sasuke sighed, he knew what it meant to love someone, though he never has, he knew what it was. He was enjoying himself, whenever the blonde was around. _Even when I get headaches, my body feels so light, I feel so calm. It's so much harder to hide my emotions, I can't help it anymore. It's doesn't matter though, I have no right, he's Naruko's brother, Kushina and Minato's son, I have no right loving him. I just can't. _Sasuke glared as he felt his head thump, the images of _that_ night ringing in his head. He didn't love Naruto.

_~/Naruto P.O.V (Warning)/~_

Naruto hugged his head as he lied in his bed, the images of the day passing him by. All he could think about was what Hinata said, if it was love you craved the other's body. Naruto knew that there was more to love, but whenever he was with Sasuke he was just happier, all Naruto could think about, for a long time, has been the blood-sucker, even though he was a blood-sucker Naruto could just overlook it somehow, and everything he does seems to affect Naruto. Naruto turned onto his back, staring at the ceiling,_ still Hinata was right_. The physical aspect of a relationship, could Naruto handle it? How would two guys even do it? He looked at his laptop, Iruka had left to pick up Kakashi so no one was home. Naruto sighed as he sat up and pulled the laptop from his desk, setting it on his lap. He opened google,

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Naruto cursed and after a second's contemplation searched up, 'Gay Porn', he clicked on a random site and a random video. He didn't really care, he was just curious how different it was from sex with a girl, not that he'd had sex with a girl, still, it wasn't like he ever really looked up gay sex before, so he had little idea how it was done. He lowered the volume on his computer as the exaggerated moans met his ears, and he lied back, watching the video.

_Right, there's a bottom and a top. Sasuke probably has too much pride to bottom so I'd have to. _Naruto slightly shifted his weight, _Looks like he feels good. _Naruto's eyes moved over the uke. _So Sasuke would do this to me . . . _Naruto could only imagine it. _Nipple play? Can a guy get off from his nipples?_ Naruto skipped ahead slightly, stopping just as the two actors climaxed, _Hm? Now that I think about it how would Sasuke react to an orgasm? I doubt he'd moan, he's too stoic. I wonder how he would look or act. Eyes coated with lust. . . I guess like that it'd be no fun being on top. The best part would probably be seeing him moaning and squirming under me, I can't imagine it._

Naruto clicked on another video,_ Looks like it feels good on bottom. They react and respond more than the top._ Naruto shifted again, _this is a different position from the other one. The other guy was taken from behind. I guess like this I'd be looking up at Sasuke._ Naruto felt a strange tightness in his stomach, _I'd be completely dominated like this, rather than being with a girl, that. . . Sasuke has some good muscles, I wonder how they'd feel? Running my fingers across his bare chest. What about his hair in my fingers, my arms around his neck. Running my hands across his back as he took me, clawing at his skin in ecstasy. . . _Naruto felt his fingers tingle as he switched videos again, Naruto blushed heavily as the next video came on, _what the fuck am I thinking about! _Naruto shook his head fiercely then pouted_, I can't believe it, but I guess I wouldn't mind being pushed down by Sasuke, his slim arms entrapping me. Just like earlier. _Naruto squinted as he remembered the feeling,_ I wonder what kind of person he is in bed. Would he be rough or gentle? Which would be better? I guess it would depend on the mood. _

"Hah." Naruto let out a slight sigh. He felt really weird, _that looked like it felt really good. . ._ "_Naruto." _Naruto felt himself blush, covering his face as the image came to him, "Damn." Naruto shut his computer and set it aside, "Fuck." Naruto exclaimed, the image forcing itself through his head. He remembered when Sasuke had held him earlier that day, the small seductive smile the raven gave, he couldn't hold it in anymore as he released his erection, slightly whimpering as his member met the cold air. "Ngh." Naruto moaned slightly as he began massaging the head. He ran his finger along his shaft, taking the member gently into his hand and beginning to caress it. _Sasuke's fingers are long and slim, I wonder how it would feel. How he would do it._ "Ah," Naruto whimpered as he pumped his hand up and down, he brought his free hand to his mouth sucking at his fingers.

_How would it feel to kiss Sasuke, what would it taste like? When our tongues come together, how would it feel? His lips kissing up my body, sucking my skin and marking me. _Naruto ran his tongue along his fingers, sucking at the digits. _How would he look as he came? How would he sound? What would his skin taste like? Could I mark him despite being on the bottom?_ "Fuck, hah," Naruto moaned as he brought his fingers from his mouth and pinched his nipples, pushing his shirt up, "Gugh." Naruto turned, getting onto his knees_, it was like this in the video._ Naruto brought his hand from his member to his hole. _The pre-cum should work as a lubricant, right? _Naruto rubbed his middle finger against his hole_, it feels odd._ _Okay, slowly_. Naruto gently pushed his finger into his hole. "Ngh." Naruto bit the pillow as he massaged his chest, pulling at his nipple_. It feels weird, everything does_, he massaged at his insides, releasing the pillow from his mouth, "Mghm." Naruto slightly moaned_, it's uncomfortable. I'm not sure I can do thi-AH,_ "Ah, hah, nngh!"_ What was that, where was it, there_, "Ah, hah, ha, ha, ahn!" Naruto felt his body tremble with pleasure as he hit the bundle of nerves, rubbing them as he forced a second finger in.

_I don't understand, it feels so weird but my body. . ._ Naruto brought his hand from his nipple down to his member as he began moving his hand along his member. _My bodies so hot, I'm so wet . . . I can't think anymore, everything's so jumbled, my ass feels so weird, all I can see is white_. Naruto pushed in a third finger_, Damn, it hurts but it's so,_ "Hah, ah, ngh, f-fuck, ahn." Naruto clenched his eyes. He could imagine it, Sasuke pushed against his back as he moved his hands along Naruto's back, the cool hands moving along his sides and meeting with the blonde's nipples. Rubbing them, pinching, would he lick them, suck them? _I can't stop moaning,_ "Hah, gugh, nm." Naruto pushed at his prostate again, he was getting so aroused. _I can't, it's good, it really is, I guess, I don't, nngh, mind, ah, shit, fuck, hah,_

"D-dammit." He imagined how Sasuke would feel against him, how the other's skin would feel, how Sasuke's member would feel rubbing against his hole. Sasuke's fingers were so slim, how would they feel, being pushed inside Naruto, rubbing him, taking him? _Would Sasuke's voice change, his breath against my body, his voice in my ear? Would he call my name, would I call his?_ "Hahn, ha, ah, S-sasu-ah!" Naruto blushed, his body trembled in ecstasy, _something's different, just the name, and it's so,_ "Aghn!" _So arousing_. Naruto bit the pillow again_, Sasuke would push himself into me, I wonder how big he is, how would it feel?_ "Ah! Ahn, gah, ahh!" Naruto exclaimed as his pleasure peaked, cum spilling from his member. His body tensed as he struggled to keep his fingers moving and immortalize the feeling, then he couldn't anymore. His entire body trembled as he peaked, all the strength left his body and he collapsed onto his stomach. His body trembled and all he could see was white; his body tingling as he came down from his orgasm. _With Sasuke I'd be able to ride out my orgasm, that'd probably feel so good._ Naruto sighed as he lied on the bed, he couldn't stay like that for very long. He had no clue when Iruka and Kakashi would get home_._

_ I don't wanna get up. . . _Naruto's body screamed in protest as he rolled out of bed, he wanted to sleep, snuggle his pillow and be whisked away but now wasn't the time for that. "Shit, I came a lot. Hah." Naruto pulled off the sheets, "I needed to wash them anyway." Naruto sighed as he fixed his clothes then gathered the bedding and headed to the laundry room. He stuffed the bedding into the washer and grabbed a stray pair of boxers and pants from the basket; he headed to the bathroom, stripping down and starting up a bath, lying in the bath as it filled with water.

Naruto sighed as he lied his head on the wall, _with just fingers it hurt, it'd probably hurt so much more if Sasuke were to enter me. Yet, I really don't think I'd mind being bottom. Either way, with how old Sasuke is, he probably has some experience. Actually, it's more likely that I wouldn't satisfy Sasuke. Granted, I don't quite understand how you could disappoint someone when you were being done, maybe our bodies won't be compatible. Like that there would be nothing we could do. Still Sasuke doesn't seem much like the type to sleep around, actually it's more accurate to say he's probably asexual. So what if he has no experience, he had to be curious at some point in his life, right? Then under that situation I'd have to guide him, right? That'd be embarrassing as hell._

Naruto sat up, turning the water off and lounging back once more_. Then afterwards what would we do? Would we do it more than once; two, three times, till we were both raw with ecstasy? Would Sasuke and I cuddle? Sleep together? Would we take a bath together? Occasionally touching one another, kissing and hugging. Or maybe we'd be overtaken with lust, seeing each other naked and wet, and then we'd touch each other again and again. Then what about the next morning? I'd be in pain so would he make me breakfast and stay with me until I felt better? I don't think he'd be much of a morning person, what would he look like after he just woke up? Hah, it kinda sounds nice._

Naruto loudly groaned, banging his head against the bathtub. _What the hell is wrong with me? I love him then, I guess I do, I'm in love with him. I can't believe I just did that, I even went as far as imagining it, watching it, trying it! I jacked off to Sasuke, this is like some bad shoujo manga, but with two guys. What would you call that? Urgh, I just can't do this anymore. . . I'm stuck now. He'll probably never look at me like that, I mean my sister was turned down by him, I have no chance. _Naruto stopped, _my dear sister I solemnly apologize for comparing your pure hearted, natural love to my sinful and grotesque feelings. _Naruto sunk under the water. _I __can't believe I jacked off to a guy, and I can't believe what I imagined while doing it. _ _I'm the worst and I'm in love with Sasuke. _Naruto loudly whined as he acknowledged the fact.

* * *

I would like to clarify I am feeling very self-conscious about the final part I'm so dead when it comes to the actual parts later.

Well follow, fav and review, I absolutely love reviews, so you must, it's a deal.


	15. Chapter 14

So I was re-reading the story and I realized I had mentioned America and what not when Sasuke was traveling, this story is completely set in the Naruto universe so I just wanna let you know I changed that, it doesn't really impact the story at all so don't worry I just wanted to let you know.

So we start the new arc, I hope you enjoy this XD

* * *

"Naruto! My man! Happy Birthday!" Kiba exclaimed as he entered the house.

"Yo!" Naruto laughed as he hugged his best friend. "Man, you're late! Everyone's already here." Naruto smiled.

"Hey!" Kiba exclaimed as he walked into the living room. He looked around seeing a good number of people in the living room. Tsunade, Kakashi and Iruka were there, of course. Then Shikamaru, Temari, Sakura, Ino, Gaara, Kankuro, Tenten, Lee, Chouji and Shino. Kiba had to admit he was surprised when he saw Neji and Hinata lounging against the back couch, he slid away from his best friend and took a seat next to Hinata.

"Hey." Hinata smiled.

"Hey." Kiba replied, taking a seat.

Hinata watched Naruto, for the most part he was messing around with his friends as they fought over whose turn it was to play on the Xbox she and Neji had got him, but he was also keeping an eye on the door. Where was Sasuke? Naruto jumped as the doorbell once again went off.

"I got it!" Naruto exclaimed running to the front door. "Huh? Hi." Naruto smiled as he was face-to-face with Itachi and Kyuubi.

"Hey blondie. Happy Birthday." Itachi smiled, handing Naruto a fox stuffed animal. Naruto gave a small laugh as he took the stuffed animal, he knew they were just messing with him but it was still a nice gesture.

"Thanks for coming. Come on in." Naruto smiled, moving out of their way and giving the stuffed animal an experimental squeeze.

"Awh, you're so cute!" Itachi exclaimed, hugging the blonde.

"Wah! W-what?!"

"Itachi." Kyuubi slightly growled, the raven immediately backing off as he put his hands in a defensive position.

"Just for the record that's real fox fur."

"Uwah!" Naruto exclaimed, pushing the stuffed animal away from himself.

"Just kidding." Itachi laughed.

"Uhm, hey, Itachi?" Naruto questioned as he picked up the stuffed animal.

"Yeah?" Itachi asked.

"Do you know where Sasuke is?"

Itachi raised a curious eyebrow, "You mean he's not here yet?"

"No, he said he was coming, but... So I'm just wondering if something happened."

"Sorry, we don't know. Have you tried calling him?" Kyuubi asked.

"Yeah, no answer."

"Don't worry so much, he's probably just late. Enjoy your party." Itachi said, shooing Naruto.

"Of course." Naruto smiled, nodding appreciatively at the raven and returning to the living room.

"Head inside." Itachi said to Kyuubi.

"And you?"

"I'm going to call him." Itachi replied.

"How cruel of him to leave such a cutie hanging." Kyuubi sighed, receiving the famous Uchiha glare.

"What's wrong?" Kyuubi smiled slyly, heading to the living room.

Itachi slightly growled, calling his younger brother. He impatiently tapped his foot, receiving no answer, "Sasuke, its Itachi, where are you? Your little blonde it waiting, at least give him a reason for not showing up. Call me back when you get this message." Itachi looked at his phone, worry overcoming him. He returned to the party, calling Kyuubi over.

"Did you get ahold of him?"

"No, can you do me a favor?"

"Depends."

"Check on Sasuke."

"Are you worried?"

"Of course, his poor blonde is probably so upset and on his birthday to, how disappointing, Sasuke." Kyuubi scoffed,

"Dumbass."

Itachi smiled, "Its fine, just head over to the house and if he's not there then we'll just tell Naruto an emergency came up at work."

"Got it." Kyuubi nodded, leaving the house. Naruto peered back curiously as he saw the man leave but was pulled from his thoughts as Sakura screamed at the TV.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke awkwardly scratched his head, once again opening his mail slot. He checked his watch, _I'm late, I'll remember this Suigetsu__,_ "I should probably head over now." Sasuke anxiously cracked his fingers, "I haven't fed in a while either, I should stop and pick up some blood packs on my way back." Sasuke stretched, running a hand through his hair and opening the front gate so he could head to the garage. Sasuke stopped as he suddenly felt a suffocating pressure. "How exactly did you get into Konoha?" Sasuke growled, turning to face the pressure he felt. His eyes turning red and his features deafening as his fangs elongated.

"Now, now, I didn't come for a fight." The man in front of Sasuke gave a hollow smile, his eyes a similar red to the Uchiha's. The figure in front of Sasuke had short, ruffled, black hair and his skin was slightly darker than the Uchiha's. He wasn't alone as two people stood on each side of him. On the left was a man with long black hair, spiked up. Next to him was a woman with short green hair. On the right side was a man with white hair, pulled back into a ponytail and another man with long blonde hair, reaching to his chest.

"Say that when you don't have an entourage, Obito." Obito smiled slightly,

"I see you still remember me, Sasuke."

"I wish I didn't. Why are you in Konoha?"

"Well you know, for whatever reason, everything is so cheery and lax today."

"I wonder why." Sasuke growled slightly.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Why are you here?"

"We can't reminisce?"

"How'd you get into Konoha?"

Obito sighed, "Fine, well you see, no one ever said we weren't already in Konoha so it was pretty easy to move."

"What do you want, Obito?"

"The same old questions, what do you want, why are you here, how'd you get here. Can you not be so annoying?" Obito asked, receiving a sharp glare, "Fine, you know, I really miss when we worked together, Sasuke. You remember our old group? Setsuna, Hikaku, Inabi,"

"No use remembering the dead."

"Of course." Obito smiled.

"What do you want?"

"Well, for now, to return to the time when we were ruling over the Akatsuki, remember that, Sasuke? No life is better than the one we spent immersed in blood, you know it to."

"That was a long time ago." Sasuke replied, his eyes darkening as the memories flooded him.

"You see the problem is, Sasuke, all the current members are so bloodthirsty, and there's nothing wrong with that, but they don't listen to me. It's so annoying, what do you recommend?"

"The more chaos for you, the better it is for me."

"You know, we never had that problem, you and I. We were brothers in arms, more than Kyuubi or Itachi you always stood by me, you were the only person I could trust."

"I'll never say you deserved what my brother did, but I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing. Things changed, Obito, I'm no longer on your side."

Obito closes his eyes, smiling, "I remember the last time I was here, don't you, that night. I never expected you to do what you did. It was so beautiful, don't you think? An image that'll forever be stained with a crimson red." Obito frowned, "Still you set my plans back a good eighteen or so years. Well I'll forgive you, after all, I need you."

"For?" Sasuke asked, he felt his head throb as the images mixed and collided.

"Return, Sasuke. Help me once more, you of all people will understand why I'm doing it, why I'm giving everything."

"For what?"

Obito shrugged, "You know, world domination."

Sasuke scoffed, "Like hell."

Obito smiled, "It's akin to world domination, not quite there yet."

"Hn."

"So? Join me."

"The Uzumaki-Namikaze's, why did you kill them?"

"I didn't mean for them to die, I actually needed them alive but as we both know it didn't end how we wanted it. You know all people really know about is the history of vampires, of course it's because of you and Itachi, but still, why do we not know anything about the hunter's ancestry?"

"Because no one is still alive who remembers."

"Ah, ah, ah, that's not true. We keep archives for a reason."

"Most of which were destroyed long ago."

"I thought so to, then I found something."

"What?"

"I can't tell you, if I did then I'd have to kill you." Obito smiled.

"Hn."

Obito laughed, "No, you see, I can't really tell you my plan until I know I have your loyalty, then I'll tell you everything."

"What would I need to do?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes. Obito smiled,

"Capture Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Oh, so we were supposed to wait?" Hinata asked as she sat on the couch.

"Yeah, actually, it's kinda tradition to open everything together." Naruto smiled at Hinata.

"Really?" Itachi questioned, looking at Hinata and Neji, both whom just shrugged.

"No, it's fine." Naruto smiled.

"Okay, here, this is from me." Tsunade smiled, handing Naruto a small box. "This was a family heirloom, but I'm single and my biological clock is running out so you'll have to do as my next of kin." Naruto looked at Tsunade,

"Too much information, but thank you for making me your default." Naruto smiled as he opened the small box. Inside was a necklace with a green gem and two small silver balls on each side of the gem. "Thanks." Naruto smiled, putting the necklace on.

"Okay, us next!" Iruka exclaimed, handing over a box, "This is from me and Kakashi." Naruto smiled, grabbing the box from his caretaker's hand.

/

"Not too bad." Neji smiled, him and Hinata walking over to Naruto as he sorted through his presents.

"Yeah." Naruto smiled.

Hinata smiled, "You having fun?"

"Of course!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically.

"What's bothering you?" Neji asked.

"Nothing, it's great." Naruto laughed.

"Sasuke?" Hinata asked.

"Its fine, its fine, something probably came up so he couldn't come. I'm not gonna let it ruin my birthday, I'm really having a lot of fun. It's not like he was obligated to come, and he didn't, so it's fine."

"Naruto, honestly, you love him, right?" Neji asked.

"Hey, Naruto! Your turn." Ino called.

"Coming!" Naruto smiled at Neji, shrugging, "It doesn't matter, does it? Nothing will change."

"Poor kid." Hinata smiled solemnly,

"Oh well, it has nothing to do with us." Neji simply said.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Why do you need Naruto?"

"First, I need you to capture him."

"I refuse." Sasuke replied, his head throbbing as he forced the memories down.

"Please, just think about it, Sasuke. Everything we did, everything we accomplished, together we could do so much more. Don't you understand? Please reconsider."

"I refuse." Obito glared at the man.

"Fine, begin." Obito said, glancing at his companions. Sasuke clenched his eyes, attempting to ignore the pain in his head. The woman lunged at him first, Sasuke rubbed his elongated nails, aiming at the womans heart, she pushed his hand aside and clawed at his chest. Sasuke jumped back, slamming into the man with white hair, the white-haired man grabbed Sasuke from begin, restricting his movement, Sasuke threw his head back and head-butted the man then dug his claws into the girls chin as she charged at him, Sasuke swung her by her chin, using her body to throw the other attackers aside then he slammed the girl into the ground and ripped her chin off as her skin turned to ash.

Sasuke felt a pressure at his back causing him to lung forward, moving into the road at vampire speeds, and turning to face his much slower attackers. He glanced at Obito, who seemed to just be watching the fight, for now. Sasuke concentrated on his sharingan, attempting to predict his attacker's next move but was unable to as his head thumped once more, the pain forcing him to his knees. Sasuke couldn't see what happened next, he just felt his chest flare with pain, his back colliding with something. He opened his eyes as the group once again surrounded him. Sasuke felt the blood gushing from his chest, he had been thrown into a tree across the road. Sasuke jumped to his feet, surveying his enemies. The man with black hair clawed at his head, Sasuke just barely avoiding it. Sasuke ducked, charging forward at vampire speeds and tackling the oblivious white haired vampire, digging his hand in the man's chest and ripping his heart out.

Sasuke flipped onto his feet, facing the other two, Sasuke stopped as he felt a sharp pain in his back, he looking back, seeing Obito stabbing a sword into the raven's back, right over his heart. Sasuke's eyes went big as he quickly turned to face Obito, the sword slicing just over Sasuke's heart, along his back, under his right armpit and into the right side of his chest. Sasuke pulled the sword from his chest, forcing it to aim at the black haired vampire and ultimately stab the vampire in the head.

Sasuke grabbed the blonde haired vampire, pulling him by his wrist and pushing the vampire into Obito, within a second lightning began shooting from Sasuke's hand, Sasuke pushed forward driving his hand through the blonde haired vampire's heart, Obito just barely moving out of the way. Sasuke felt his head once again throb, unable to control the pain, he collapsed.

"Haha, hah, haha!" Obito burst into laughter, "You don't look so good, brother! Haha! Even then, you still, so gracefully!" Obito exclaimed, throwing his hands out as he admired the piles of ash. "You aren't healing, brother. When was the last time you went hunting? You're thirsty, right? You can drink from me, you want to, right?" Obito asked, kneeling next to Sasuke. Sasuke glared at Obito, "Oh, don't look at me like that."

Sasuke dug his fingers into the ground, forcefully pushing himself at Obito and clawing the man's shoulder. He ran behind Obito, turning to face the boy. "You were always such a coward, you just can't fight me on your own, can you?"

"I think, whether it was you or Kyuubi, I probably couldn't kill you by myself." Obito smiled, "Simply because those memories still exist, but when I think about Itachi, it becomes possible." Obito reached his hand to the sky, clenching his fist. "You're not well."

"I'm fine."

"Always the tough one." Obito smiled at Sasuke, "Please, join me, Sasuke."

Sasuke closed his eyes in annoyance, "I refuse."

"Then I guess this is the end, despite what you decide, Sasuke, we will start today."

"Hn." Obito solemnly smiled at Sasuke, charging forward with his sword in hand. Sasuke closed his eyes, forcing the pain down, sidestepping Obito as he lunged at him. Sasuke clawed at Obito's arm, Obito quickly pushed away from Sasuke, still feeling the claws rip into his arm. Obito jumped back, Sasuke ran behind Obito faster than Obito could see and aimed at the boy's neck. Obito stabbed his sword into the ground and pushed away from Sasuke, turning in the air and sending a slash of fire at Sasuke as he pulled his sword form the ground. Sasuke raised his hand as the fire launched at him, lightning shooting from Sasuke's hand and dispersing the fire. The lightning shot at Obito, completely surrounding him, but he was gone when the smoke cleared.

_Where? _Sasuke closed his eyes, concentrating on the area around him, _how?! _Sasuke quickly turned as Obito appeared behind him, faster than Sasuke could comprehend. Sasuke clawed at Obito's head, stopping as he felt his body tense. He couldn't move anymore, he had lost too much blood, his head hurt so much, he couldn't feel anything. Sasuke felt his body limp, Obito took this moment of weakness, driving his sword through the man's chest and using the sword to pin Sasuke to the ground.

Obito gave an annoyed sigh, "See, I told you, you weren't well." Obito pulled the sword from Sasuke's chest, Sasuke carefully watching Obito, not that it mattered, he couldn't move anymore. "I'm sorry." Obito said, giving an unsympathetic shrug as he raised the sword over Sasuke's head and forcefully thrust it down.

* * *

Well, that happened. Sorry if you all hate me now. So, what do you guys think will happen next? Tell me, the next chapter is a long one so we'll see how well you do.

So how do you feel about Obito?

Review, fav and follow~


	16. Chapter 15

I'm working hard to follow some sort of deadline! Praise me!

I'm trying hard!

Summer is in about three weeks, which means I have had nothing but tests in these last few weeks and will have nothing but tests and projects for the next few weeks. I'm trying though!

So this is just kinda following off where the last chapter left off.

Real quick question, has anyone read the new Naruto series? What did you think?

* * *

"What are we watching?" Naruto asked, leaning back on the couch.

"Not a clue." Kiba followed, hugging his legs as he sat on the couch alongside Sakura, Shikamaru, Lee and Gaara; the five obviously too big for the small couch, who knows how they made it work. The others were mostly spread out on the floor; Hinata, Neji, Itachi and the adults all in the dining room munching on some cake.

"Who cares? It's interesting." Temari replied.

"Really?" Shikamaru questioned.

"What, is there something wrong with that?" Temari scowled.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed, looking off to the side.

"What was that!?" Temari exclaimed, slamming her hand into the ground.

"Whoa, Temari! Stop!" Tenten shrieked as she was jumped on.

"Temari!" Chouji followed, crawling out of her war path.

"W-wha! Wait!" Naruto exclaimed as he was nearly trampled.

"You crazy chick." Shikamaru exclaimed, jumping back and crushing Lee.

"Ow!" Lee exclaimed as Shikamaru sat on him.

"Temari! Stop!" Chouji yelled as he, Tenten and Ino tried to pull her off of Shikamaru and Lee.

"What are we watching?" Kiba emphasized as he looked at Gaara and Sakura.

"Some drama?" Sakura questioned.

"Seems like it." Gaara followed.

"Hm? What do you think Shino?" Sakura asked.

". . ." Shino looked at the three, then back at the screen.

"Thought so." Sakura smiled awkwardly, then returned to her conversation with Kiba and Gaara.

Naruto smiled, watching the multitude of events happening in his living room. "Pfft! Haha!" Naruto burst into laughter, flopping back onto the floor while holding his stomach.

"Naruto?" Ino questioned, everyone stopped to watch the hysterical blonde. Naruto smiled, rolling onto his butt and sitting up, "Haha, thanks guys."

"What for?" Sakura asked.

"Humph, nothing." Naruto smiled, shaking his head.

"Which screw fell loose?" Kiba asked, roughly tousling his best friend's hair.

"Hehe!" Naruto gave a sly smile, playfully pushing away from his friends touch. "Well, let's watch whatever the hell this is!"

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke mentally cursed as his vision clouded, seeing nothing more but a flash of red.

"Shit!" Obito exclaimed as he was thrown back, he clawed at the ground in order to regain his footing and looked up, giving a small laugh, "If it isn't the Uchiha's whore."

"Obito." Kyuubi whispered, directing a weak glare at the vampire.

"Long time no see." Obito smiled kindly.

Kyuubi kept a cautious eye on the man, bending down next to Sasuke and carefully looking at his wounds. "Bastard." Kyuubi cursed as red bubbling power flared from his body, he glared up at Obito.

"Ah, ah, don't give me that look."

"Why?" Kyuubi growled.

"Well because it's scary." Obito pouted.

"Why?" Kyuubi repeated.

"Because he's in the way." Obito smiled.

"Che." Kyuubi growled, lunging at the man. Obito quickly attempted to dodge, but was caught by Kyuubi's arm and ultimately forced to the ground. Obito grabbed Kyuubi's hair and harshly pulled it, forcing him back and kneeing Kyuubi in the stomach successfully throwing him aside.

"Sometimes I forget how fast you are." Obito cursed.

"Too bad." Kyuubi growled, protectively standing in front of Sasuke. Obito looked between the two, cautiously surveying his surroundings, both sides keeping a close eye on the other.

"No choice." Obito growled. Kyuubi raised a curious eyebrow as Obito bent over, grabbing a rock off the street. Obito lightly threw the rock into the air, Kyuubi curiously looked at Obito whom simply smiled in return, "Catch." Obito said as he harshly threw the rock at Kyuubi's head. Kyuub caught the rock, then turned to face Obito, only to find that the man was gone.

"What the?" Kyuubi curiously looked down the mostly abandoned road, seeing no sign of the other man. He angrily clenched his fist, Sauske was more important at the moment. Kyuubi turned, knelling next to the boy, Sasuke wasn't turning to ash so he was at least alive. Kyuubi grabbed his phone,

"Hey, did you find Sasuke?" Itachi questioned

"Obito was here." Kyuubi replied quickly.

"And my brother?"

"He's still alive, it seems like he and Obito fought. Sasuke's really hurt and he doesn't seem to be healing. Obito also escaped, I can't tell you where he went, I looked away for a second and he was just gone. He was weakened so I don't think he got far but I really can't tell you where he went."

"What did Sasuke say?"

"He's unconscious."

"And he's not healing?"

"No, should I feed him some of my blood, at least until we can't get to a blood bank and he can properly feed?"

"No, if he's injured to the point he's not healing then he might lose control and accidently suck you dry. Get him to the nearest blood bank, once he properly feeds I want you to take him to the hospital. I don't care what he says, take care of him, Kyuubi, and leave Obito with me."

"Got it." Kyuubi replied as he moved to hang up.

"Kyuubi?"

"Hm?"

"Be careful."

"Of course."

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Tsunade." Itachi said as he reentered the Uzumaki-Namikaze residence. Itachi walked over to her, as she, Neji, Hinata and Kakashi all sat in the dining room, talking. Iruka was in the other room with Naruto and his friends. "We have a problem." Itachi whispered, trying to keep the others form overhearing.

"What happened?" Tsunade asked.

"It seems Obito attacked Sasuke at the mansion. I can't really tell you much but Sasuke's headed to the hospital and Obito escaped." Everyone in the room looked at Itachi in alarm.

"What?" Tsunade hissed.

"Kyuubi just arrived and found them. Apparently Obito escaped and Sasuke was severely injured."

"How could he let Obito escape?!" Tsunade yelled, struggling to keep her voice down.

"Because he was more concerned about my unconscious brother." Itachi hissed. Tsunade looked away in shame, nodding slightly,

"Go there now and find him. I'll inform the ANBU and have them help as well. I also need someone at the mansion to try and figure out what happened there, dissect the situation. It'll take me at least 30 minutes to mobilize the ANBU so I want you all to go ahead."

"Obito's probably escaped by now, he was injured too, I doubt he just hung around." Itachi replied.

"If you don't hurry, he will. Hurry, now."

"What about Naruto and them?" Kakashi asked.

"It's his birthday, give the boy a break." Neji replied. Itachi nodded in agreement,

"Agreed. Well Kakashi, Hinata, Neji, would you join me?" Itachi questioned.

"Should we tell Iruka at least?" Kakashi asked.

"No, we don't need to worry him." Tsunade replied.

"He has enough reason to be worried." Hinata retorted.

"No, she's right. Its Naruto's birthday and I doubt Obito would come to such a densely packed street alone, not to mention, they may be young, but there's also a large number of hunters and vampires here." Kakashi replied.

"Okay," Tsunade accepted his decision.

"Let's hurry." Itachi said as the five stood up and headed for the front door.

"Naruto." Tsunade called.

"Tsunade, Hinata, you guys." Naruto called, jumping to his feet and jogging over to them, "Where are you going?"

"Sorry, something came up and we gotta head out." Kakashi apologized, rubbing the boy's head.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing important, it's your birthday so don't worry too much about it." Neji smiled.

"Still-," Naruto began but was cut-off by Itachi.

"Sasuke won't be able to make it either. He said he's sorry and Happy Birthday, he'll make it up to you later but something came up." Naruto frowned slightly then smiled,

"It's fine, but what happened?"

"It's nothing." Tsunade replied.

"I'll tell you tomorrow." Hinata winked cheerfully. Naruto rolled his eyes playfully but accepted her reply, sending them off with no more comment.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Hurry." Kyuubi demanded as he stood at the counter in the blood bank.

"Sir, there's a limit to how many packs we can give to a single person at a single time."

"Okay, listen, I have an ancient vampire in the back of my car who's starving, so do you want me to just set him loose on the town or are you gonna stop being so fucking difficult and give me the damn bags of blood."

"It's not my problem, sir, I can only give three per customer, which is more than enough for a month supply, at least."

"Okay, how about this, there are two of us, so you can give us six then, right?"

"You both have to be here to sign-in."

"Okay, you can see him from here, I'll just sign for him." Kyuubi replied, withholding his anger.

The hunter looked Kyuubi over for a second then sighed, "Hah, fine. Just hurry up." The man gave an exasperated sigh as he threw the sign-in board at Kyuubi. Since newborns can survive on a limit of one pack of blood every week and a half each vampire is given a limit of three packs a month. They have to sign-in, and their names and the amount of packs they took is registered into a computer so they can't take more than their fill. Then after a month it resets, if an accident happens, such as spilling the blood, you need some proof, such as a photo, and can be reimbursed. This system sometimes causes problems, such as in the case of an emergency. However, when vampires begin walking in the sun they need less and less blood, in that case, three packs is actually more than most vampires need for the month. The blood was mostly synthetic with small traces of donated human blood, so there was little fear of running low but the council still believed in using this system in order to keep everyone satisfied.

"Okay." Kyuubi sighed, running his hand through his hair as he walked from the blood bank to his car, a bag of blood packs at his side. Kyuubi opened the back door of his car, pulling Sasuke into the grass and looking around, if Sasuke did lose control he wanted to make sure no humans were nearby. Kyuubi grabbed the first bag, pulling the plastic cork out and releasing the small opening. Kyuubi took a quick drink in order to boost his own energy, then he set the opening to the young Uchiha's mouth, lightly squeezing the bag. Kyuubi sat at the boy's side, waiting for him to wake up, jumping back when the blood spilled from the Uchiha's mouth and spread on the grass.

"Sasuke, come on, drink." Kyuubi purred, setting the blood bag aside and grabbing the boy's mouth, forcing it to close as he attempted to force the blood down Sasuke's throat. He waited for a second then opened the boy's mouth, glad that the blood had slid down his throat.

"Come on, wake up." Kyuubi begged as he grabbed the bag again, this time he forced the opening into Sasuke's throat and lightly squeezed the bag, after several grueling moments the bag emptied. Kyuubi threw the bag aside and tensed as he patiently waited for Sasuke to stir. Despite his wounds slowly beginning to close, Sasuke didn't move. Kyuubi contemplated feeding Sasuke more blood, but when Sasuke didn't even twitch he decided it would probably be useless. Hoarding the remaining packs of blood, he threw the bags into the car and carefully set Sasuke down into the back seat.

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"So what's the plan?" Kakashi asked as he, Itachi, Neji and Hinata ran through the streets of Konoha.

"Hinata, would you be willing to go to the mansion and close off the scene, see what you can find out?"

"Yeah." Hinata nodded in return, breaking off from the group of four.

"The only place Obito could flee would be the forest, otherwise he would risk running into hunters. Neji you're gonna search the woods in the west, Kakashi you have the north and I'll look in the east. As we approach the mansion we'll look through the forestry in the south, we have little time and a wide area, concentrate on smelling any stray blood or sensing any out of place power, at least until the ANBU arrive."

"Got it." The two followed

"Do you know anything about Sasuke?" Neji finally asked after a moment's silence.

"Not much, he's hurt and unconscious." Itachi replied.

"Well you're acting rather calm, aren't you?" Kakashi asked.

"Sasuke's an Uchiha, he's not dead and he won't die so easily. Not to mention he's with Kyuubi right now, I have nothing to worry about. Besides, worrying about something that I can't help will do me no good when I'm needed here."

"Heartless as always." Kakashi followed.

_~/Hinata P.O.V/~_

"Madam Hyuuga." Hinata looked up as five ANBU guards stood behind her. She carefully looked them over, nodding an introduction,

"Yes."

"The Hokage sent us to help with securing the scene." Hinata looked at them and nodded.

"From what I can tell there were five attackers and Sasuke. There are four piles of ashes and we already know Obito was involved and escaped. The fight moved from the front of the mansion, across the street, into the grass, then back here. It was pretty violent and bloody but rather quick and in a restricted space. I wanna say that besides the initial attacker, Obito, the others were rather weak due to the time span, however, it's more worrisome that they lasted as long as they did. Some weaponry was involved, there are some claw marks but also slashes from a sword, and someone used bloodline abilities. I want to say this fight was mainly vampires however I found this." Hinata beckoned the ANBU members to follow her, they listened. She bent down next to a pile of ash, "I'm trying to keep the ashes together as best as I can until we can collect and properly analyze them but I've noticed something." Hinata dug her hand into the ash and pulled a handful of the ash out. She used her free hand to motion for the ANBU members to stand in front of her then she lightly blew at the ash in her hand.

"What the hell?" One of the ANBU members questioned.

"I don't know, I was hoping you did." Hinata replied as she looked at the collection of pale-tan mush mixed in with crimson stones in her hand.

"Is that flesh?" One of the ANBU questioned.

Hinata loudly sniffed at the mush in her hand, she gave a relaxed sigh as she closed her eyes, stopping for a second before she spoke, "Flesh and blood." She simply said, she dropped the mush cleaning her hand off with the shirt of a nearby ANBU member. "It's not authentic though. Well, it is, but something's wrong with it. When someone is sick or has a disease you can smell it in their blood, this blood has a similar smell but it's not quite a disease. Well, it's more accurate to say that I'm not familiar with the foreign scent in this blood."

"What species is that?" One of the ANBU members asked.

"Well it obviously can't be a human or a hunter." Another said.

"Maybe a vampire who, rather than drinking blood, eats the flesh."

Hinata speculated the proposal, "Still, there would be no way to get proper nutrients from that, or at least, not that I know of and I'm pretty sure it would still be digested. Even then, vampires eat human food and it doesn't just pass right through us when we die."

"Plus, human flesh is probably closer to a vampire's ideal diet than human food." One of the ANBU members pointed out. Hinata glared at the man, but just shrugged the insulting comment off,

"True."

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"Nothing, sir." The ANBU captain said as he met with Itachi. Itachi glared at the man,

"Same here." Kakashi replied, Itachi looked at Neji who just shrugged.

"Would I be here if I had anything?" Neji asked. Itachi frowned slightly, rubbing his forehead,

"So no one has any trace of him?" Everyone just shook their heads no. Itachi nodded in understanding, pulling out his phone and calling Tsunade.

"Hello?"

"Tsunade, it's Itachi, we have no trace of Obito, it seems like he just disappeared from the mansion. The sun's coming up as well, we can't keep this up."

Itachi heard Tsunade sigh loudly, "Understood, I want you and the other's to return to my office for now."

"Neji, Hinata and I are stopping at the hospital first, I've done my job, now I need to check on my brother."

"As you will." Itachi silently nodded, hanging up.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"The doctor said he was severely injured, though that was obvious, and before the attack he had almost no blood in his system so he's healing slowly. They fed him, I fed him, but he's just not waking up. They said he's healing perfectly fine now, he's basically asleep but no matter what anyone does he won't wake up." Kyuubi explained to the three as they sat in the waiting room.

"Can we visit him?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, it's fine." Kyuubi replied.

The three entered the room, moving quietly and carefully as if they were trying to keep Sasuke from waking up. "Sasuke?" Hinata questioned as she cautiously looked around the hospital room.

"Wow." Neji commented.

"It really does look like he's just sleeping." Hinata followed.

Itachi moved next to his brother, carefully moving the blanket back in order to see Sasuke's injuries. "They're pretty deep, even now."

"I don't believe that Obito was able to corner Sasuke." Neji spoke.

"I don't know. If the evidence is right there were about four people with Obito." Hinata clarified.

"I guess, but, still. . ." Neji followed.

"It's not like my brother to lose a fight." Itachi clarified.

"At least, not without taking someone with him. Are we sure Sasuke didn't kill Obito?" Hinata asked.

"No, I saw Obito, I fought him. Sasuke was unconscious by then, I looked down for one second and the next moment I know he's just gone. He wasn't on the road, or anywhere I could see him, which isn't possible with how barren that location is. There's nothing there besides Sasuke's house and yet, he just disappeared somehow." Kyuubi explained as he entered the room.

"What happened between Sasuke and Obito? Do you know?" Itachi asked.

"No, not a clue. I can't imagine it was good." Kyuubi shrugged.

"We need to get back to Tsunade." Neji reminded the others.

"Kyuubi?" Itachi began, Kyuubi smiled, slightly shaking his head.

"Go ahead. I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thank you." Itachi replied, kissing Kyuubi's forehead.

"Be careful." Kyuubi whispered to him. Itachi nodded slightly in response.

"Oh come on you guys, he's fine, be happy he's okay, don't be so tense." Hinata exclaimed cheerfully.

"Yeah, we can always come check on him. After all, he's Sasuke, it'd take way more than this to kill him." Neji sighed in amusement, smiling sincerely at the others.

"Obito wouldn't come back to finish him off." Kyuubi said, revealing what was silently burdening everyone's thoughts. "Obito was injured as well, I doubt he'd be able to return. Now everyone's gonna be on edge again, it'll be impossible for someone to sneak in and come here to kill Sasuke. Obito only wants to keep Sasuke out of his way, in this catatonic state Sasuke can't do anything."

"You don't know the meaning of subtlety, do you?" Hinata questioned in irritation. Itachi smiled slightly, laughing at them.

"Whatever, let's return." Itachi shook his head in amusement, shooing the two Hyuuga's. Kyuubi grabbed Itachi's wrist before he left. "Hn?"

"Itachi, you're worried about nothing."

"I'm not worried."

Kyuubi gave a pitiful smile, "You don't have to act so tough, Sasuke's your brother, you're allowed to be a little worried. Sasuke's strong, and with the amount of emphasis on Obito right now if he as much as sneezes, someone will know. Sasuke's fine, and he'll get out of this."

Itachi smiled slightly, "Why do you think he's not waking up?"

"He's had a lot on his mind lately and he refuses to sleep, I think he's probably just figuring himself out right now."

"Okay." Itachi nodded sincerely, kissing Kyuubi and walking from the room.

Kyuubi huffed in mock irritation after the Uchiha was gone, "Idiot."

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"How's Sasuke?" Kakashi questioned as the three entered Tsunade's office.

"He should be fine." Hinata replied, slumping onto the couch.

"So what do we know?" Tsunade asked.

"He was attacked, Kyuubi saved him, Obito escaped." Hinata paraphrased.

"Do we know where Obito went? What he wanted?" Tsunade asked.

"Kyuubi said Obito told him that Sasuke was in the way so he wanted to get rid of him. Apparently he just disappeared, Kyuubi has no idea where he went and we couldn't find him either when we were searching." Neji replied.

"So, as always, we have nothing?" Tsunade asked.

"Well, he went after Sasuke rather than Naruto, which should say something, whether it means he wants revenge against the Uchiha or against the Association, who knows, but it does say something. He's obviously going after us first, whether that means the Uchiha or the Vampire Noble clans, who knows but for now you guys should be safe." Itachi spoke.

"Or Sasuke was just the easy target, he has been having a lot of problems lately, it's fair to say he was pretty weak and pitiful." Hinata said, shrugging away the harsh looks she received. "That aside, I actually have something, whatever it is."

"Oh? And what is that?" Neji cockily replied.

"There was flesh and blood in the ashes of the dead vampires." Hinata explained.

"So humans and hunters were involved?" Kakashi asked.

"No, there were no bodies. There was literally flesh in the ashes of the dead vampires."

"How?" Neji asked, Hinata just shrugged.

"Not a clue, anyone else?" Hinata asked,

Everyone shrugged in confusion, "It doesn't mean anything to me." Itachi followed.

"Maybe they were using human flesh and blood to hide their presence, or mask it." Tsunade proposed.

"Maybe but it wasn't just under the ash, or over it, it was mixed in with the ash. It was a part of the dead vampire's ashes, like the flesh was a part of their body." Hinata ? Whuh? Wh

"What if they're using something that negatively affects regeneration so they have to use human skin as a substitute? Or a turned could possibly have some type of defect before being turned so they have to use makeshift body parts as a substitute. Since they're disabled it would also explain why they were used in a suicide mission such as killing an ancient vampire like Sasuke." Neji guessed.

"Then it would have some shape or structure, to be able to properly maintain itself on a body, this was just mush, and there were no stitches or anything like that in the skin or ash." Hinata replied.

"Tsunade!" The five quickly turned as they heard a loud slam at the front of the office, seeing Iruka standing at the office door as he desperately yelled, "Naruto's gone."

* * *

Fav, Follow, review, we know the drill XD It's all of your reviews that convinces me to keep writing! It's really helpful knowing what you're guy's opinions are. I'd be happy to know what you guys think is going to happen in the next couple of chapters or even later!


	17. Chapter 16

Wahh, I didn't realize it's been so long since I've updated. I'm sincerely sorry v.v Most of my finals were projects so I spent my weekends on that, and then I went to Metrocon (It was amazing! *~*) Then my computer charger broke and I was without a computer for a few weeks (It was horrible ;-;)

As for now, I'm a little ahead on my writing so I'm gonna update over the weekend and in the middle of the week as apology. Get as many chapters out as I can.

Well as for this chapter, it's kinda confusing, so I'll explain just in case. The story starts before Naruto went missing and his P.O.V is present time. Not Sasuke, in his comatose state he is actually having flashbacks the end and beginning of his flashbacks are signified by the /. The majority of this chapter is really Sasuke's past.

Warning: Gore and feels :( I felt so horrible doing this to the characters.

Question: Who's the seme here? Kyuubi or Itachi.

* * *

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Hey, I'm heading up to bed. Don't stay up too long." Iruka spoke as he slowly climbed the stairs.

"Come on, Iruka, I'm nineteen now. You don't have to baby me." Naruto called back as he played against Kiba on the xbox. Everyone else having already gone home.

"Two, okay, and that's late enough." Iruka said, it was already 12.

"Can't he just stay the night?" Naruto asked.

"Sure."

"Oh, no can do, I have to help my mom with the shop tomorrow." Kiba spoke. "Ah! Shit!" He cussed at the game.

"Two, boys." Iruka said, then headed up to bed.

"Wah! That's not fair! I was talking to Iruka!" Naruto yelled, jumping to his feet.

"Haha, too bad, it's my win, dumbass!" Kiba yelled in triumph.

"And quiet down!" Iruka yelled.

"Sorry!" The two boys called back.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"That was so my win." Naruto pouted as Kiba got into his car.

"You wish, the score was 9-7, I beat you." Kiba scoffed.

"Cause you cheated." Naruto mumbled under his breath. "You sure you don't wanna just spend the night? It's really late, it's probably not a good idea to be driving this late."

"Nah, maybe tomorrow, you know how my mom gets. She'll get on me if I'm not there when the shop opens tomorrow."

"Just stay over, I mean, honestly, we both know you're probably not even gonna wake up in enough time."

"Nah, I don't wanna wake you and Iruka up. Its fine, I'm not even that tired."

"If you say so."

"Yeah, later man. Happy Birthday." Kiba smiled, slightly saluting Naruto as he pulled out from the driveway. Naruto watched him off, it was a dark night, and there was no moon out. Naruto turned, heading back to his front door, stopping when a cold shiver went down his spine. It wasn't cold out, so why? He turned back to his front door, stopping when a hand went over his mouth.

"Mmph!?" Naruto loudly mumbled into the hand, fiercely bringing his elbow back in order to hit his attacker however his hit was only met with a sharp hiss. He kicked his foot back in another attempt to push off his attacker only for his hit to again be met with indifference. His final try, biting the hand over his mouth.

"Ow! You fucking parasite." His attacker hissed, throwing him forward and fiercely hitting him over the head, moving faster than Naruto could register then everything went black. The dark figure simply retreating into the forestry with Naruto on hand.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_/_

"So, this is it?" Itachi questioned, looking at the 8 men and women in front of him.

"Yup. The 4 strongest soldiers from both the Hyuuga and the Uchiha clans. The negotiations are over. Since it was our idea, the Hyuuga elites have granted us full control, of course, as long as we keep them updated." Sasuke replied, smiling as he looked over the line-up.

"Can you control them?" Itachi asked.

"It's not a question of whether I can or not, will you let me?" Sasuke gave a sly smile. Itachi returned with his own smile, nodding slightly,

"Your first orders." Itachi said handing Sasuke a sheet of paper. Sasuke read the sheet over and looked at Itachi. "It should be simple enough, an up and coming prodigy within the hunter world. He's strong, and his name is spreading. If you take him out now we won't have to deal with him later, he doesn't have a lot of experience and is still learning so it should be an easy enough job. Once you've completed it, take some time to recoup then report to the Hyuuga compound for your next assignment."

"Okay, what do I do if one of them dies?"

"Return them to their respective clan for a funeral and find a replacement."

"Got it." Sasuke replied, "Have any words of wisdom to share?" Itachi playfully rolled his eyes, then walked in front of the others,

"You no longer belong to any one clan. You no longer belong to any one person. From here on you will be soldiers for the species, not the group. You will only need to follow two rules. No matter the cost, no matter the tactic taken, your orders must be completed, without fail; second, you must never turn against your kind. From here on out your only loyalty is to the species and your orders." Sauske rolled his eyes at his brother's formality. He walked to the door, ahead of the others, turning to face them.

"Now, come, we've been issued our first job as the assassination group, Akatsuki." Sasuke smiled, kissing the orders in his hand as he turned, leaving the room.

/

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Is everything done?" Obito questioned, looking up from his desk and seeing a man with medium-length silver hair that was slicked back and deep purple eyes.

"Despite the little bastard trying to take a chunk outta me." The man cursed, flicking his hand.

"Where is he?"

"In the dungeon, cage, whatever you wanna call it."

"Did you hurt him, Hidan?"

"Naw, he's fine." Hidan growled.

"Too bad." Obito sighed.

"I don't think he's awoken his bloodline ability though. At least, he didn't use it against me."

"That's a problem, we'll have to force it out. He's of age so it should be fairly easy to awaken."

"You think he even has it? Naruko was the oldest, he might not, granted I'm definitely not one to pass up a little torture, still."

"He has it. He's the eldest male of his generation, he definitely has it." Obito spoke, "Come." Hidan stretched, but followed him.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_/_

"Obito, enough playing, we need to return." Sasuke called.

"Awh! Come on!" Obito exclaimed, pouting.

"Obito."

"Yeah, yeah, on it." Obito pouted, looking down, to the hunter at his feet. "Time's up." Obito simply shrugged as he looked at the bloodied man, grabbing the man's hair and pulling it to reveal his neck, Obito sunk his teeth into the man's neck, sucking him dry. He gave a small purr of delight as he dropped the man's limp body and ran after Sasuke. "So? So?" Obito excitedly said.

"So?" Sasuke questioned as Obito met with the other eight Akatsuki members.

"How'd I do?" Obito asked. Sasuke rolled his eyes playfully.

"For your first hunt? I'd say you did okay." Sasuke smiled.

Obito excitedly squealed, "You'll tell big brother Itachi, right?"

"Of course, we expect a lot from you, Obito." Sasuke smiled, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Hehe! I promise to deliver." Obito exclaimed, excitedly running ahead of the other Akatsuki members.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"How about Madara? He's young, but strong, one of the best generals we have." Sasuke proposed.

"No, he needs training. I'd say give him a couple hundred years of training and he can be the following heir." Itachi replied, shaking his head.

"The following heir is supposed to be Obito, isn't it?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course, but he's still young."

"Maybe, but he's got more training than anyone, we raised him."

"Not yet, he's far too young, I think we should get through two more rounds, then maybe." Itachi speculated.

"Okay, okay, we'll figure that out later. We need someone now." Sasuke said.

"Shisui." Itachi said.

"No, he's not only young but also inexperienced and unprepared." Sasuke said.

"I can work with him."

"Then we might as well choose Madara, at least he has some experience." Sasuke followed in disbelief.

"No, I've decided." Itachi said.

"Whoa, wait, that's not how this works." Sasuke said, standing on his chair.

"Look, you watch over the Akatsuki and entrust the clan to me, that's how it always is." Itachi spoke, leaving the room.

"Like hell." Sasuke growled, throwing a nearby table and in turn breaking it.

"Whoa, what happened in here?" Kyuubi questioned as he entered the room.

"What the fuck is up with Itachi lately?" Sasuke yelled.

"Whoa, calm down." Kyuubi said raising his hands defensively, "He's just under a lot of stress, you should understand."

"Kyuubi, I get it, but lately he's been making all the decisions by himself."

"Well, the rumors." Kyuubi shrugged.

"Rumors?"

"Look, it's nothing, it's just, a lot of people have been saying that the Akatsuki is getting rather disobedient. He just wants to make the right choices for the clan."

"Hah, are you fucking kidding me. He trusts that shit over me, his brother."

"It's not that Sasuke, but you never know, it's better to be cautious for the sake of the clan."

"Yeah cautious, so when he endangers the clan by turning a noble hunter, it's fine." Sasuke closed his eyes in shame, "I'm, Kyuubi, I'm sorry." Kyuubi smiled gently, shaking his head,

"You're right."

"Itachi and I just can't seem to find a common ground lately, I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"Let the rumors pass, let everything calm down, and then talk it out. How's Obito been?"

"Great, he really wants Itachi to praise him." Sasuke laughed slightly, "He's trying hard, and Itachi doesn't seem to give a fuck, it's pissing me off."

"You're getting aggressive." Sasuke sighed,

"Sorry, again. I'm just getting irritated."

"For a while you two have been on different levels, you and the Akatsuki, him and the clan. It'll calm down, for sure." Kyuubi smiled.

_/_

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"Idiot brother." Itachi sighed as he sat in the hospital room. "I'll rape you." Itachi said jokingly, frowning when Sasuke didn't even stir. "I'm sorry, maybe if I had sent Kyuubi a little earlier or maybe if I stopped getting on your case about Naruto." Itachi sighed, gently pressing his younger brother's forehead, stopping when his phone began ringing.

"Hello?" Itachi questioned, holding the phone to his ear.

"Hey, where are you?" Kyuubi questioned.

"The hospital, why?"

"I think we got a lock on Naruto, but everything's so scattered and mixed, it's hard to center on it."

"Knowing the Akatsuki, they probably used a barrier."

"Yeah, but what kind?"

"Who knows, I never even worked with the Akatsuki, Sasuke's the only one who knows them and their tactics, I really have nothing."

"Is there anyone else who would know? Someone who's worked with them."

"There was only ever one way out of the Akatsuki, death. The only living members are still in the Akatsuki and if they aren't then I don't know who they are or where they would be, Sasuke knew all of that."

"What do we do?"

"Not much we can, even with me, you, Tsunade, the only one who has any idea about the Akatsuki is Sasuke, and he's still out cold."

"Let's head back to Tsunade's office, regroup, we're not a group of amateurs here, there's gotta be something we can do."

"Okay."

"Itachi."

"Hm?"

"It's not your fault."

"Whether there was something I could do or not, I'm still the one who started Obito's rampage so every action he has taken can be put on my shoulders."

"At the time we both thought it was the best thing to do."

"At the time I was being a hypocrite." Itachi replied, Kyuubi was quiet, then simply hung up, knowing well he had no retort.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_/_

"A group of hunters?" Obito questioned as they ran through the forest.

"Yeah, apparently they're giving us a good beating." Sasuke said, a stern glare plastered on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Sasuke spoke.

"Yeah." Obito mouthed. "Come on, what's wrong?" Obito said in a baby voice, quickly jumping through the trees and playfully jumping around Sasuke.

"You're gonna trip."

"Nope, you see, I have that finesse."

"Finesse, okay." Sasuke replied.

"Where are the others?"

"Surveying the area, we're gonna surround the group and quietly pick them off."

"Mmkay, so what's wrong?"

"Nothing." Sasuke growled.

"If you don't tell me I'm not gonna shut up."

"You won't shut up even if I tell you."

"Ouch." Obito smiled.

"You realize we're supposed to be quiet when we sneak up on people."

"Tell me."

"Look, Obito, it has nothing to do with you." Obito looked at Sasuke expectantly. "Itachi and I hit a rough spot, okay. It's really nothing." Sauske gave a small smile. Obito smiled in return.

"Mmkay. Thank you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, stopping as he heard a voice, his ear com going off, "Hey, there's only one left, what should we do, Sasuke?"

"Leave the last one to us and you guys regroup."

"Yes sir." Sasuke smiled at Obito, stopping on a tree branch,

"I'll leave the last one to you so I can regroup with the others, if you do well on this hunt let's do something when we get back."

"Do what?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"Can I race you?" Obito asked excitedly,

"Sure." Sasuke laughed. "Okay, get going."

"Yes sir." Obito laughed.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Okay, where'd you go, little birdy." Obito whistled as he moved around the camp. He stopped whistling, smiling as warmth rushed his body. "Found you." Obito turned, quickly pulling away a nearby bush, stopping when he came face to face with a kunai. He smiled at the attempt, forcefully grabbing the Kunai, blood dripping as it cut into his hand. He forcibly pulled the kunai away, throwing it aside. He looked forward at his target, a girl around his age in human years. She had straight brown hair, reaching to her chin and in a bob cut. Her eyes were a deep chocolate color, with two rectangular purple tattoos on both cheeks. She had a stern look, she quickly dodged under him, running away and grabbing her Kunai, turning to face him.

Obito smiled, "Even like this you'll fight back?"

"Of course, we're taught to never back down. If I'm going to die here, I promise you I won't go easily." Obito's smile faltered.

"Obito, hurry up." Obito heard Sasuke's voice through the ear com,

"I," Obito stopped, closing his eyes, "It's already done, I'm returning." The girl looked at him curiously, getting out of her fighting stance in order to face him. "Be sure to watch yourself." Obito winked at her.

"Wha? What are you doing! Kill me! I can't return like this! I'll be seen as a traitor! Kill me!" She screamed as he began scaling the trees.

"I'm sorry, no can do. Just stay here, I'll visit." Obito winked.

"Wah!? What! Are you fucking kidding me?!"

/

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Shit!" Naruto exclaimed as he pulled at the chains holding him back against the wall. "Hello!?"

"Can you be any louder? Really." Obito sighed.

"What the hell is going on?" Naruto cursed.

"Well, if you hadn't noticed you're kind of our prisoner. Now could you please shut up?" Obito sighed.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, me, well I'm named Obito and I'm the current head of Akatsuki. Know it?"

"The Akatsuki, wait, weren't you guys wiped out?"

"Hm? Why did no one tell me?!" Obito exclaimed then smiled, "Nope. Did they really think that?"

"That's what I was told, after you killed my family." Naruto spat.

"Oh, honey, you're wrong there. You see, it's true we started the, how should I say it, problem. However, Sasuke was the one to kill them, sadly enough." Obito shrugged.

"Fuck you, pushing the blame onto someone else." Naruto scoffed.

"Hm, well, you seem to think highly of Sasuke. You know he was actually the one who created the Akatsuki, and for a while he worked with us as our leader. The amount of blood on his hands." Obito laughed, "Well, we're not here to talk about that."

"What do you want with me, my family?"

"Something you can't give us directly, we want your power."

"My power? I don't have any."

"Not yet. You know I was worried, since your father wasn't an Uzumaki, but it seems thinning out the blood a little actually helped, your sister had it. Granted, her control was very weak since her blood had been thinned out. As the male descendant here's hoping you're a little more compliant." Obito smiled. "Oh don't worry too much, we're right under Konoha, I don't think it should take very long for them to find us, granted without Sasuke that'll be a little hard."

"Without Sasuke?"

"Oh don't worry, he's not dead, sadly, Kyuubi got there right on time, he was always punctual. However, it seems Sasuke is a little out of commission for now, so, we'll see." Obito smiled

"My power, my family's power, why do you want it?"

"Now, you can't expect any good evil genius to completely divulge his plans."

"Said no super villain ever." Naruto mumbled.

"Haha." Obito laughed, "I like you, too bad things couldn't have been different."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_/_

"You look happy." Itachi said to Obito, as he, Obito, Kyuubi and Sasuke sat in the Uchiha main house, lounging around in the living room.

"Yeah." Obito smiled.

"Why?" Itachi clarified, laughing slightly.

"I think I've found my mate." Obito smiled, everyone in the room stopping at the sudden declaration.

"Oh no! My little boy's growing up!" Itachi exclaimed, hugging the boy, "How pitiful, you found your mate before Sasuke."

"Please, you aren't mated yet either."

"Working on it." Itachi winked at Kyuubi, who just shook his head no causing Itachi to pout.

"So who is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Are you sure about mating?" Kyuubi followed.

"What about them?" Itachi finished.

Obito laughed, "She's amazing, funny, independent, strong, proud, caring, kind, friendly, dedicated, and beautiful."

"Okay, okay, we get it. Who is she?" Itachi smiled.

"You guys don't know her, I met her on a hunt."

"So she's not an Uchiha?" Itachi asked.

"No." Obito replied shaking his head, "Is that not okay?"

"No, if you love her then you love her, we have no say." Sasuke smiled.

"Ah, but if she's not pureblood you won't be able to have kids. I want grandchildren!" Itachi exclaimed, everyone just stopping to look at him for a moment.

"No, she's turned, well, not yet."

"What do you mean?" Kyuubi asked.

"She's a hunter." Everyone stopped, looking at him.

"What clan?" Itachi asked, the air suddenly turning tense.

"Oh, I don't know, she works under the current head. One of his students." Obito explained.

"Obito, drop it." Itachi said.

"What? What do you mean drop it?" Obito asked.

"If she's under their leader then she's too high up. We don't need her spilling our secrets, find someone else." Itachi said.

"What the!? It's not that easy! I love her! I wanna be with her!"

"She's human anyway, she probably doesn't see you the same way. Even if she does you'll be easy to get over for her. Find someone more suitable." Itachi said.

"What the hell!? I'm not some just turned newbie, I understand what it means to mate with someone, and you should know if I'm even considering it then I'm serious here!" Obito yelled.

"I don't care."

"Che!" Obito jumped up running from the room.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Sasuke cussed.

"I'm not wrong here."

"Maybe not, but you can fucking stay with Kyuubi, a hunter from a noble clan." Sasuke cursed.

"Kyuubi's different."

"Stop, you guys." Kyuubi began.

"How!?" Sasuke yelled.

"Because his entire clan was dead, there was no one he could talk to." Itachi yelled in reply.

"Even more reason for him to betray you!" Sasuke yelled.

"Fuck off Sasuke, my decision is final."

"I'm not your fucking underling, I'm your brother and your partner don't you dare fucking start with me!" Sasuke yelled, running after Obito.

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"Would you stop with the rumors?" Itachi cursed at his fellow clan members.

"But Obito is giving sensitive information to the hunters." One of the men said.

"We saw him, he was meeting one of them in the forest!" Another man exclaimed.

"Nonsense." Itachi spoke, "He's been bred to be the heir, and don't you dare damn him."

"I don't care who you are, or who it is. If Obito is consorting with the enemy, for the sake of our clan it's your job to get rid of him."

"Don't you dare order me around." Itachi cursed. "I have given up everything for this clan, I've been doing it longer than you've been alive don't you dare tell me how to do my job."

"Maybe that's the problem. You just can't do it anymore. I mean with your whore, it's pretty obvious something's broke. Maybe it's time to pass it on to someone more capable, perhaps your brother, Sasuke."

"Please, Itachi's been doing this since before you could even shit yourself." Another argued. Itachi lightly growled,

"Enough! I'll deal with Obito, and don't you dare speak to me like that again, if you dare to then I'll cut your head off and hang it from the compound fence."

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"I didn't realize." Kyuubi said as he and Itachi sat in Itachi's office.

"I don't think Sasuke does either."

"What exactly is going on?"

"It's been happening for a while, for longer than I realized and it's already blown out of proportion."

"What's happening?"

"I was the oldest, which was why I was always the proper heir but Sasuke and I are both getting pretty old. Sasuke has accomplished a lot for this clan through the Akatsuki, I've changed the clan a lot from how it once was. These days though I can't do anything, what we need done is what Sasuke is doing, I've done what I can for the clan but there's not much else. The younger clan members don't know what it was once like, they don't know how it's changed and without even knowing it's already turned into a civil war. Not a big one, but it's slowly turning worse and we can't do anything about it."

"What's the civil war about?"

"Who should be the curator of the Uchiha affairs, me or Sasuke."

"But isn't that why you change control? You train heirs."

"No, they're the leaders, yes, but the most important decisions are decided by me."

"Then why are you excluding Sasuke so much?"

"Because, frankly, Kyuubi, I don't know where his loyalties lye. If we're not careful, with this Obito thing, choosing a new heir, then this could turn into a full out war and I'm not sure Sasuke's by me on this."

"But aren't you making things worse?"

"I don't care, as long as I stop it before it blows up."

"And Sasuke?"

"I'm afraid if he learns he might agree, I don't want him to know."

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"Kill the traitor!" Itachi flinched as he heard the chants outside his home. Luckily Sasuke and Obito were at Sasuke's home out of the compound so they had heard little about what was happening.

"Kill him." Itachi walked to his window, watching the protestors, by now everyone knew about Obito's relations with his girlfriend and it was a big scandal. He was a traitor, conspiring with the enemy, a high-ranking hunter.

"Itachi, they'll kill him." Kyuubi whispered.

"Yeah, yeah I know." Itachi said. "But what do you want me to do? Obito is safe for now, he refuses to return and Sasuke is staying with him. They don't know what's happening. I don't want them too."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"Protect him, no matter what. This has to stop, it could tear the clan apart. I need to protect them." Itachi said, holding his chin as he worriedly shook his head.

"How?"

"By stopping at the source. Can we get ahold of the Akatsuki?"

"Is that such a good idea? They'll support Obito and Sasuke."

"The Hyuuga, I need a neutral party. Get me in contact with their leader."

"What would this do to Obito?"

"He's too young, it'll pass."

"And if it doesn't?"

"At least he'll still be alive."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"I don't understand, why would he?" Obito asked.

"I don't know, he probably thinks it's what's best for you. He's not completely wrong either, I'm sorry, Obito."

"I talked to her, she said she's not sure, about turning. I don't wanna force her but. . ."

"You don't see another choice."

"What do I do, Sasuke?"

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out."

"You should meet her." Obito smiled.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Why here?" Sasuke asked as they walked through the forest.

"Uh, it was the first place we met." Obito laughed. Sasuke rolled his eyes, stopping as he smelt blood.

"Obito."

"She's really important to me, I really care about her." Obito went on.

"Obito." Sasuke whispered, as he stopped walking.

"What? Why'd you stop?" Obito smiled.

"Obito."

"I don't want to." Obito frowned.

"Obito."

"I don't want to." Obito repeated, "Maybe it's not her."

"You smell the blood, I don't know it."

"No, no." Obito just shook his head, "No, no way." Obito shook his head violently, "No!" Obito screamed as he broke into tears, collapsing to his knees.

"Obito." Sasuke whispered, hugging the boy as he cried.

"No, no." Obito pushed Sasuke away, and jumped to his feet, screaming, "Rin! Rin! Rin!" Obito screamed as he ran along the road, stopping in the nearby forestry.

"Obito?" Sasuke questioned, turning the boy away when he saw the body.

"I can, I can still turn her! I can still turn her! Right?!" Obito exclaimed as he pushed towards the body, digging his nails into his wrist and ripping open the skin, holding his bloodied arm over Rin's mouth.

"You can't, you can't, it's been too long, it won't work." Sasuke whispered. "Go home, I'll survey the scene, go home." Obito cried, but listened, waiting nearby for Sauske. He wasn't willing to return alone. Sasuke surveyed the body, two bite marks, vampires. His eyes went big as he sensed the power on the body, it was too much for a random attack. The attack wasn't random.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"What's happening?' Sasuke asked as he entered the Uchiha head house.

"It's taken care of." Itachi asked.

"Enough, what's going on."

"Obito's treachery, don't worry it's been taken care of. Things should settle down now."

"Treachery? What did he do?"

"To them, associating with a traitor."

"So you kill her."

"I didn't kill her."

"Yeah, you sent assassins to do it. What the hell is wrong with you?" Sasuke simply said.

"Assassins?" The two turned as Obito entered the room, his eyes swollen red and big in surprise.

"Obito, why are you here?" Sasuke asked, "I told you to go home."

"I, you sent assassins." Obito asked.

"For your sake and the clan's."

"Fuck the clan, what about, what about." Obito began hyperventilating.

"You asshole!" Sasuke cursed, pushing Itachi against the wall.

"Curse me as you will, I did what I had to."

"What you had to." Sasuke cursed, releasing him and going to Obito.

"You won't trust my decisions?" Itachi asked.

"Fuck you." Sasuke cursed as he stood in front of Obito, eyeing his brother closely.

"It's time to choose, will you trust me or go your own way?" Itachi asked.

"Why does it matter!? Why do I have to choose why can't you just trust me!" Sasuke yelled.

"Because I fear the people more than I fear you." Itachi replied.

"Why does it matter?"

"Because my dear brother, I'm not willing to put you in the line of fire. No matter what it takes Sasuke, I want to protect the clan."

"And Obito, and Kyuubi, and me?"

"Won't be blamed when this clan breaks." Itachi replied.

"You asshole." Sasuke exclaimed, forcefully hitting Itachi, accidentally throwing him from the room, through the wall and into the mob below. Sasuke walked to the hole, the crowd ceasing as they looked between the two. The war had started and everyone already chose their side.

"Understood." Itachi said as he rubbed off his clothes, getting onto his feet. "Come, brother. The sides are chosen." Fire covered Itachi's hands as he charged towards Sasuke. "For the clan."

"Oh no." Kyuubi whispered as he entered the room, running over to Obito, watching the ruckus outside. "Obito, what's wrong."

"I'll kill him." Obito mumbled.

"What?" Kyuubi questioned.

"I'll kill him!" Obito yelled, jumping to his feet.

"Obito! Stop!" Kyuubi exclaimed holding Obito back but was quickly thrown off.

"I'll kill him!" Obito exclaimed, running into the ruckus.

"Gah!" Kyuubi gasped in pain as he hit the back wall, but went after Obito.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Hah, hah." Sasuke heaved as he looked at his brother.

"Are you tired?" Itachi questioned, walking around his brother. "You were always so weak, little brother." Itachi spoke, charging at Sasuke. Sasuke quickly turned out of his way, just barely avoiding him. Itachi stopping, grabbing a sword from a nearby stand and tossing one to Sasuke. He swung the sword, "Come on." Sasuke was shaking as he grabbed the blade, both from incessant healing and fear. "What's wrong?" Itachi smiled, "You don't look so well." Itachi spoke, flicking away the sword in Sasuke's hands. He was already too weak to fight back. Itachi threw Sasuke to the ground, holding the sword to his throat. "I am sorry, brother." Itachi said, swinging the sword back.

"Stop!" Kyuubi exclaimed, grabbing Itachi's arm. Sasuke jumped to his feet, glaring at the two.

"Obito, come on, we'll finish this later." Sasuke promised. Obito looked teary-eyed at Sasuke, following him as they fled the compound.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"I'll kill him, I'll kill him." Obito repeated as he sat on the ground next to Sasuke, the other members of Akatsuki behind them as they followed the younger Uchiha brother into exile. "I want revenge. I wanna destroy him."

"Yes, yes." Sasuke spoke, his eyes cold, "We'll get revenge."

"Against all of them?"

"Yes."

"We'll kill them all. All of them. We'll destroy them."

"Yes. We'll kill them all." Sasuke whispered.

"I want revenge."

"We'll get it."

/

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Come on, don't be so temperamental." Obito sighed as he pulled Naruto from the cell, barely hindered by the blonde's incessant struggle. "Hah, fine, fine. I'll let you go." Obito frowned, throwing Naruto into a large round arena. Naruto looked around seeing Hidan standing in the middle of the arena, stretching.

"What is this?" Naruto glared at Obito as he backed away, a metal door coming down and blocking any way for Naruto to leave.

"Survive, my dear friend." Obito hissed, "Survive and evolve." Naruto looked at him curiously, turning as Hidan walked over to him.

"Time to pay you back for my hand." Hidan hissed.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_/_

"Sasuke." Kyuubi said as he entered the dungeon, Sasuke chained to the wall.

"Long time no see." Sasuke spoke, glaring at him.

"Yeah. . ." Kyuubi looked him over, smiling slightly, "You've changed. Grown up."

"Well that's what happens."

"13,000 years, geez, where has the time gone." Kyuubi smiled gently, he hesitantly reached his hand forward, gently petting Sasuke's hair.

"Enough." Sasuke glared.

"How have you been?" Kyuubi asked, releasing Sasuke's hair.

"It's been enjoyable." Sasuke smiled.

"A life immersed in blood and death." Kyuubi whispered.

"Is the best." Sasuke smiled.

"You know, Itachi couldn't do it in the end, even if I hadn't stopped him. Even for the sake of the clan he couldn't kill you."

"That started it but these days, this life is just so enjoyable." Sasuke spoke.

"He cried, after you were gone, he had cried then he gave up complete control to Shisui. Shisui tried so hard to find you for Itachi, he's a good leader and he really helped to calm the rebellion in the clan. It was just a coincidence we broke into the right hideout. Tell me, how is it that they captured you?"

"They caught me off guard. You're rather complacent with a sword to your throat."

"No, you could've easily killed your attacker. You wanted to be caught, is it a trap, or were you simply tired of killing?"

"It was a fluke."

"Well I hope you're happy, by destroying others you've gained your power."

"What do you want me to say? We're vampires, isn't that our job? Leaving nothing but a trail of death and destruction."

"Yet we have more morals than you, killing for sport, decimating towns, families, no matter the species, even we know better."

Sasuke looked into Kyuubi's eyes, "Yet so many people joined in." Kyuubi glared, turning to leave the cell. "Make sure to tell my brother I can't wait for my chance to rip his throat out." Kyuubi closed his eyes, leaving.

Sasuke huffed in irritation, "Hey guards." The two guards turned to face him. His pupils shifting, turning red as three comma like designs appeared around his pupil, his pupil changing red. "I really think you should let me go."

"Let you go." The two repeated, one of them unlocking the cell and the other one unlocking Sasuke's shackles. Sasuke rubbed at his wrists,

"You also really wanna give me your swords. Meh, and the jacket." Sasuke spoke, taking the swords and one of the men's jacket. "Now, you're really, really tired and the cell looks so comfortable." He whispered. The two guards slightly swayed, then collapsed on the ground. He turned, pulling on the jacket. He left the room,_ a single cell room, not bad_. He looked around the hallway, it was unfamiliar. He began walking, stopping as several guards littered the hallway. _They really tried_. Sasuke held his fingers to his lips releasing a loud whistle. The guards all turned, running at him, he set his hand against the wall lightning shoot from his hand and encased the entire hallway, electrocuting the many guards.

"You didn't try hard enough, it seems." Sasuke walked, making no attempt to step over the bodies, at least they were still alive. Sasuke closed his eyes, sensing for Itachi, his red eyes pulsing with excitement, "Found you." He left the hallway, a mansion then, he went through the mansion, looking around at the lack of guards, he had already been found. Sasuke stopped, smiling, as he watched the main hall shift, a large staircase was in the middle of the large square hall, a red carpet running along the empty floor. "Oh, you really have to try harder." Sasuke called, his eyes pulsing as cracks appeared along the walls and along the floor, finally breaking apart. The new room was the same, however this time Itachi stood at the top of the staircase.

"I'm not stupid, you let yourself get caught. Why?" Itachi asked, "Why now?"

"You remember, I was weak?" Sasuke spoke, closing his eyes as lightning engulfed the room, "Whether I was waiting to gain the strength, or the hate, who cares, I'm here."

"What about Obito?" Itachi asked, a shield of water protecting him as it directed the lightning towards the wall.

"He's grown into such a strong leader, my goal was to kill you. That poor boy has lost all sense of self, you broke him. I can't much tell what he wants these days, and I don't particularly care, either. Our mutual cause was fulfilled, destruction and devastation."

"Shall we replay that day? Come, brother." Itachi said, stretching his hands out in surrender. Sasuke smiled,

"Is this your white flag?"

"No, just come, get your revenge."

"It's no fun if you don't fight." Sasuke pouted.

"If my death will save you then I'll gladly die." Itachi said.

"Oh, well. So noble, and stupid." Sasuke said, rushing forward, stopping next to Itachi as he held the sword to his brother's stomach. "Let's play a game of chess, make your move."

"I'm sorry, my dear brother." Itachi said, walking into the sword, lightly thumping Sasuke's head.

/

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Hah, hah." Naruto heaved as he watched Hidan. Hidan sighed, "Just fall over already, geez. Hey! Kakazu, you fucker, this is getting boring trade places with me."

"I'm counting my money, get over it." Kakazu said through the gate.

"Come on!" Hidan dodged as Naruto charged him. "He's almost down for the count, just a few minutes."

"Hah, fine." Kakazu growled.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

_/_

"Minato, why are you still here?" Sasuke questioned as he left the school. The young boy with blonde hair and deep blue eyes simply watched the ground with a red face.

"Why are you still here?" Minato emphasized.

"Work."

"Ah, right." Minato gave a small laugh, squirming under his history teachers' eyes. "Fine! I'm looking for Kushina."

"Kushina? Why."

"What, I know she sometimes goes to the park across the street. I'm not a stalker!" Sasuke just nodded,

"You like her?" Sasuke spoke, taking a seat next to the boy.

Minato just hesitantly nodded, "She's really tough and independent, it's weird, and she's really pretty too! Yet sometimes she seems so weak, ah, no, she seems lonely and it makes me feel bad. I just wanna hang out a little bit."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded, lying back against the stairs.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Sensei! Sensei! Guess what?" Minato exclaimed as he ran up to Sasuke.

"Minato, you really need to stop calling me sensei."

"Whatever! Guess what?!"

"Hn?"

"I'm gonna be the fourth hokage!"

"Good job."

"But that's not important! Guess what else?!"

"Hn?"

"Kushina and I are getting married! You'll come to the wedding, right?"

"I don't know why you would want me to."

"Please!"

"Whatever. Sure."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Sasuke." Minato smiled as he walked up to his old teacher, knocking lightly on his classroom door.

"Hn?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Akatsuki, what happened with you and them?"

"Why do you care?"

"I can't ask."

"Hn, you should know."

"I know the statistics, but what happened?"

"I fell in love with a life surrounded by death."

"Then why'd you leave?"

"Are you saying I should've stayed?"

"No, I mean, why?"

Sasuke closed his eyes as he lied back in the chair, "My brother, he was the main reason I went rogue, and I spent thousands of years trying to get to the point where I could kill him. Yet in the end I was given the chance and I wasn't even the one to insert the blade. I couldn't kill him, despite everything, he was still my brother. Then they had me in a prison for a couple hundred years, I came out just before Hinata became the Hyuuga head and worked with my brother from then on. Joining the school when Sarutobi first became Hokage as a sign of peace, to teach what I saw. In exchange for my freedom I was given two orders, I could never kill and I can never eat without some supervision."

"Thank you for telling me."

"Hn."

"You know, Sasuke, Kushina is pregnant right now. Our first child."

"Hn, I wish you happiness."

"Can I ask a favor? Technically I'm gonna be the fourth Hokage soon, in a few months. If I take on the job would you protect my family?"

"Protect?"

"Be a bodyguard of sorts, mainly for our child. This kind of job is riddled with danger and I don't wanna lose my family. Would you protect them? You wouldn't have to teach here anymore."

"I can't kill."

"You wouldn't be killing, you'd be guarding, protecting another. I can talk to the council, your brother, whoever, I just need to know if you would."

"Why me?"

"Because you were once my teacher, and though I don't know you as well as I would like to I know well of your power, your ability, please, would you protect my family?"

"If you can get my limits lifted, then yes." Minato smiled in relief,

"Thank you."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Don't you think I'm scarier than any monster out here, Naruko?" Sasuke joked as the girl desperately clung to his sleeve while they walked along a road at night.

"Don't tease her." Minato laughed.

"Please, she's more afraid of me than you." Kushina followed, sticking her tongue out, her daughter in turn sticking her tongue out.

"Minato." Sasuke spoke, turning to look into some nearby forestry.

"How many?"

"Two." Minato nodded in appreciation, he and Kushina running off into forestry. Sasuke glared slightly after they were gone, pulling the young girl into his arms.

"Naruko, do you wanna play a game of hide and seek?" Sasuke asked as he held the girl.

"Yeah!" She cheered.

"Okay, close your eyes and count to 10."

"Got it!" She cheered, covering her eyes. "Uhm, 1, 2, 3." Sasuke pulled a kunai from his side as three vampires surrounded him. "Uhm, 4."

"5." Sasuke followed, disappearing in a flash as he held the child quickly disabling the vampires.

"6! Uhm, what's next?"

"7"

"Okay, 7, 9,"

"You forgot 8."

"Wah! Whatever! 10!" She smiled as she unveiled her eyes, "I found you!" She cheered hugging his neck.

"Good job, you still can't count though." Sasuke spoke, leaving several piles of ash behind him.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Stop being so reckless." Sasuke scolded as the two walked through the street, Naruko stubbornly swinging a sword.

"Awh, shut up! I don't need your help."

"Too bad." Sasuke growled, rubbing his temples.

"Oh, come on!" Naruko smiled, facing Sasuke. "Hyah!" She swiped her sword at him, stopping a few inches from his body and continuing to pretend she was attacking him.

"Okay, enough of that." Sauske scolded, ripping the sword from her hands.

"Yada, yada." She cheered. She smiled as she returned to his side, giving exaggerated steps as she walked with her hands behind her back. "Hey, wanna hang out at my house today? My parents aren't home." Naruko asked. Sasuke looked at her, listening to the strain in her voice as he saw the red in her cheeks, somehow he knew it would be a bad idea to agree,

"Sure."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Naruko stumbled as she tried to put the key in the lock, ultimately dropping the key. "You okay?" Sasuke asked as he bent over, picking up the key and handing it to her.

"Yeah, sorry." She replied, successfully unlocking the house door. "Want anything?" Naruko asked.

"No, damn I keep forgetting to drop off those books." Sasuke said as he sat on the couch.

"Oh, you already read them?" Naruko asked, awkwardly pulling at her hair.

"A while ago."

"Oh, did you like them?" Naruko asked sitting next to Sasuke.

"Yeah, surprisingly."

"I have the next volume upstairs if you wanna borrow it."

"That'd be great." Sasuke said as he went to stand, only to be pulled back down on the couch by Naruko. "Naruko?"

"Sasuke, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I, I'm in love with you." Naruko breathed, speaking barely above a whisper.

Sasuke was silent for a second, wholeheartedly wishing that she hadn't said anything, "Naruko you're important to me but I'm sorry, I don't love you." Naruko closed her eyes in anguish.

"Please leave now."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Are you sure about this?" Minato frowned.

"Leaving?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I think it'd be better. I finally have my freedom, thank you for that Minato, but for a little bit I think it's time for me to really think about my life and repent for what I've done."

"If that's what you want." Minato smiled.

"Have a safe trip." Kushina smiled, hugging the Uchiha and gently kissing his forehead. Sasuke looked at Naruko, who simply looked away, avoiding any eye contact with the boy.

"Goodbye." Sasuke said, mainly to Naruko as he turned to leave.

"Hey, Sasuke." Minato hesitantly called. "I don't know if it'll matter much but I'd be happy to have you as a son-in-law, despite everything." Sasuke stopped in surprise, simply shaking his head as he finally left.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"I finally found you." Sasuke whispered as he looked at the large building, he rung a nearby bell, surprised by the new found formality.

"Big Brother!" Obito exclaimed as he ran from the building, hugging Sasuke. "Welcome back! I was so worried."

"Obito." Sasuke said as he was hugged.

"They didn't hurt you, right? Where have you been?"

Sasuke smiled, "Come on, let's talk."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"You stabbed him!? It was great, wasn't it?! Did you kill him!?" Obito exclaimed.

Sasuke smiled pitifully, "No, he's still alive, and I think it's for the better."

"What do you mean?"

"Obito, I wasn't happy or energized it was like any old attack. I wasn't relieved, rejuvenated, I just felt numb."

"What are you saying?"

"Stop this already. That pain you feel for Rin, all these people we killed, you still are killing, you're just passing that pain onto them."

"Well, what's wrong with that?" Obito questioned.

"It's wrong and if you kill Itachi, you'll only feel emptier."

"How do you know, you couldn't even complete the job!" Obito exclaimed.

"Yeah, in the end I couldn't."

"It's okay, Sasuke, I know what I need to do, what I wanna do. I'll end the pain for everyone, one more step and I can save us all."

"What do you mean?" Obito smiled, shaking his head no,

"I can't tell you, you've been brainwashed, brother, just trust me, like you once did, and I'll make it all better." Obito smiled, Sasuke stopped as a hand covered his mouth, "You've lost so much power, brother, we'll have to work on it again. Just leave it all to me this time."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Obito!" Sasuke yelled as he violently thrashed around on the bed, chained down to it.

"Sorry, brother, I don't want you to be uncomfortable. Wait till we return."

"Return!? Where are you going! Obito!" Sasuke yelled. Obito smiled,

"Konoha."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke ran through the forest, _Konoha, why Konoha?_ He was able to rip the chains but it took him a few hours, hopefully he wouldn't be too late. He barely drank anymore, he barely got the chance, Obito was right, he was much weaker now.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Obito, what did you do?" Sasuke asked as he walked up to Obito. The man waiting on the mountains overlooking the town. All Sasuke could see was a sea of crimson red, almost like a fire yet it wasn't burning.

"It was just supposed to be a little distraction."

"What was?"

"Oh well, it's fine."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm looking for someone."

"What happened?"

"Brother, what do you think happens when you mix the bloodlines? Vampire and hunter, purebloods."

"What happened?"

"You know what happens, this." Obito said raising his hands. "I just met to turn them, create some chaos, but who knew? The mixing of the bloods must have awakened her innate powers, but her body wasn't meant to control such power or it would've long awoken, so now it's everywhere."

"Obito, who are you talking about?" Sasuke begged, shaking the man.

"Crimson red."

"No." Sasuke whispered as it began registering, "Kushina. How do I save her!?" Sasuke begged.

For the first time in years Obito's eyes focused, he looked directly at Sasuke and smiled, "You can't." Sasuke violently threw Obito to the ground, jumping from the mountain he ran to the Uzumaki-Namikaze home.

"Minato! Naruko!" Sasuke called, the house mostly collapsed. He heard a distant cough, running to the source he threw the debris off the body. "Minato." Sasuke whispered.

"Sasuke?" Minato questioned, Minato desperately grabbed Sasuke's hand, "Save her, save them. Sasuke."

"I will, come on, let's get you to safety."

"No, I can't move, save them, go!" Minato yelled, pushing him away. Sasuke looked at him skeptically but nodded, running off.

Sasuke looked at the figure, the woman he knew as Kushina, her body oozing a black miasma as her power flared, red arms of power surging from her body. "Kushina!" Sasuke called. She looked at him, her eyes no longer her own as an arm of red power surged at Sasuke, he barely dodged the attack. "Stop!" He begged, looking as many other hunters tried to attack her, none getting close enough as they were effortlessly thrown aside. He had to knock her out at best. His eyes and teeth shifted as he took the form of a vampire. He whistled, she turned her attention back to him an arm surging at him, he dodged, more arms shooting at him as he effortlessly avoided them jumping at her true body, only to be stopped by a force field of power surrounding her, the power sending him flying. He heaved as he landed on the ground, the force field having torn the skin from the front of his body, blood dripping from him as his body hurried to heal itself.

Sasuke jumped to his feet, looking at Kushina as she easily did away with several hunters, he knew well this wasn't her doing and if he was even able to save her he wasn't sure she'd want to be alive knowing what she'd done, by accident or not. She was no longer a human, or a hunter. Sasuke's eyes changed red, as his sharingan activated, he anazlyzed her power looking for the chink in her armor. He closed his eyes, her lower back. "Hey!" He called. She turned to face him, Sasuke ran forward, sliding under her, aiming directly for her back, one of the arms coming back and catching him, violently throwing him through a nearby house. He sat up, spitting out a mouth full of blood. She was faced away from him. Sasuke ran forward, bouncing between the houses as he once again aimed for her lower back. This time she turned to face him, forcing him directly into the force field and again violently ripping at his skin. He gagged as he tried to return to his feet once more, his body aching with thirst.

He really couldn't do it, he couldn't properly attack her, whether it was because she was stronger or he just didn't want to, he didn't know, nor did he care to know. "I'm sorry." He spoke, his features once again deafening. His speed increased more so than before, he ran alongside one of the tentacles in a close race to see who could reach her lower back first. Sasuke hit it forcefully, having little clue himself how much force he put into the attack because by the time his hand made contact with her lower back, her tentacle had impaled his stomach. Kushina's body lurched forward, the power around her body dissipating as she fell to the ground.

"Mom!" Naruko screamed as she ran onto the scene. Sasuke's body lurching as it slowly repaired itself, his eyes dark and dead while his features were now more animal than human. His mind was blank, he was just so hungry, it hurt so much. Naruko looked at him, noticing him, "Sasu-!"

/

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Guack! Huack!" Naruto knelt on the floor as he threw up, blood spilling from his mouth.

"Oh, come on! It's finally getting fun!" Hidan exclaimed as he kicked Naruto's side.

"Enough!" Hidan turned as he saw Obito,

"Awh come on, just a little more." Hidan smiled, yanking at Naruto's hair.

"Return him to the cell."

"Hah, fine." Hidan pouted, throwing a resistant Naruto over his shoulder.

"Hm, you think he should be treated?" Kakazu asked.

"You willing to pay for it?"

"Nevermind."

Obito smiled, "The more pain, the more agony, the easier it'll be to awaken his power. Just keep Hidan from killing the boy before that happens."

"Sure, give me the hard job." Kakazu sighed.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

/

"Hah, ah, gugh." Sasuke silently sobbed as he held the limp body in his arms, his wounds now fully healed as blood lied on the edge of his lip, two gushing bite marks on the figures neck.

"Hah, brother, this wasn't supposed to happen." Obito pouted as he appeared behind Sasuke, alongside several Akatsuki members. "We needed her." Sasuke said nothing, nor did he react. "Is it painful?" Obito questioned, then smiled serenely. "Well it's okay, we can find a replacement, right?" Sasuke clenched his fist, turning to face Obito, angrily charging at the man. Obito quickly dodged, "Wah! Don't do that! You scared me!"

"I'll kill you." Sasuke threatened as he faced Obito. Obito smiled again, this time pitifully,

"Please do." Obito replied, then smiled, "Till next time, brother."

/

* * *

Fav, follow, review, you know the drill. Sorry it's been so long, but hopefully it was worth the wait, or at least slightly. I don't know. See you Wednesday ^~^


	18. Chapter 17

You have no idea how long I've been wanting to write Hashirama and Madara's story, I am just so ecstatic I finally got to.

Okay so, yeah, again, this is mostly Sasuke's history but now he's starting to come out of comatose so he's more just narrating his experiences, a little bit of a change from last chapter, so yeah. I'm really enjoying writing Sasuke's past ~ but, don't worry next chapter we finally move back onto the main story.

See, if you're curious, I was originally going to write a sequel concentrating on Sasuke's past and the Uchiha clan but then I was just like, the original story is gonna be long enough and a sequel will just seem anticlimactic, so I'm discreetly (not so discreetly) squeezing it in here and there.

So, I really love this chapter, probably one of my personal favorites at this point and I hope you guy's like it to.

Well, enjoy the story ^~^

* * *

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

My youth wasn't the best, yet I remember it very fondly. From what I remember my mother was a very kind and gentle woman only ever scolding us when it came to our responsibilities, school or chores. Our father was very strict and uncaring, his only concern was put into Itachi. He had a strong sense of responsibility and held a strong loyalty to the clan. I always wanted his approval but instead was often compared to Itachi, something I think created a deep rooted motivation for me to surpass my older brother. Mother always tried to tell me how much father cared and was just never open about it, but even now I don't believe it much. Itachi was the prodigy of the family, and the perfect son in my father's eyes. However, growing up, he would always help me whenever it came to training or schooling, even when he had to go on a mission or go hunting, he always made me a priority. My mother and father were the heads of the Uchiha so Itachi and I often found ourselves at the center of conflict.

I grew up at a time where it seemed the only constant was war, war between the hunters and vampires, war between the Uchiha and Hyuuga. There was no Hunter's organization, there was no Hokage to keep the peace, you had to fight to live. The Hyuuga and Uchiha clans were at odds but for the most part the majority of the species followed the Uchiha. The Hyuuga never really cared for interfering, they mostly stayed to themselves.

My earliest memory, that's still plainly clear, was when I was around 8. Every month we would get a casualty report. There was no real system for it, but 3 days before every report we would get a message telling us that two high-ranking soldiers were coming to the compound, and we would get two 8 digit numbers. When the two soldiers came they would give the two numbers then be stripped of all weaponry and lead to my parents to give their report. Granted, it didn't matter much if we striped their weapons because of bloodline abilities. Of course, our parents didn't expect to be attacked, they only mourned the casualty reports. We'd used this system a hundred times and nothing ever went wrong but that night the two attacked my parents, my parent's didn't expect it and were killed. Many of our older members were out at war, the only people really in the compound were my family and the younger members of the clan; most of which were aged between 1 and 100, which really isn't very old for vampires. Many hadn't awaken their bloodline abilities yet. They massacred everyone in the compound.

I had been at school, outside of the compound was a school for vampires both turned and pureblood, we were taught the basics there and our skills were honed so we could protect ourselves and feed. Itachi had been out too, I don't remember what he had been doing, but he came home to find the entire compound dead and being overrun with invaders. Single handedly he took out the invaders. I came home that night, hours later, I walked into the compound and saw nothing but blood. The guards who would ask me about how school was every time I returned home; the younger kids who Itachi and I would always play tag with; the homely widow who would always praise me and Itachi for being such wonderful kids. She would tell me to grow up and be a renowned name within the Uchiha and to listen to Itachi, and tell him to watch out for me as the older brother and he should become a great clan leader. Of course, I was only 8 and I couldn't understand all the blood or why it was there or why when I tried to wake everyone up no one would move. I couldn't understand but I knew I had to get to my parents. I ran, I ran as hard as I could. I remember I tripped at one point, who doesn't when they're in a rush. I didn't care though, I needed to know my parents were okay, I needed to know Itachi was okay; but when I got home, my parents were dead. I cried, and I screamed and begged, of course nothing changed. Itachi heard me, he thought I was another invader and moved to attack me. As soon as he saw my face he threw his sword aside and hugged me. He pulled me into his arms and dragged me away from the compound.

We went to the forest, hid on the side of a nearby lake. While I slept he returned to the compound, he sent news of the massacre to our troops and grabbed me and himself clean clothes. Then he returned to me and changed our clothes and got rid of any traces of blood, I had tripped into some. I don't remember seeing him cry once, for weeks we stayed in the forest and he cared for me. When news got to the troops, those from the compound returned, and the rest of the species continued on fighting with new found resentment. The troops cleaned the compound, rid it of any trace of death and welcomed me and Itachi back. Two of the members who lost their children in the massacre welcomed me and Itachi into their family. That was when I first cut myself off from others, and Itachi tried harder than anything to keep things as normal as he could. He pretended the massacre never happened, never mentioned it and redirected the conversation every time I said anything. Like an unspoken truth we pretended the massacre had never happened, that the couple that took us in were our real parents, we pretended that I nor Itachi would often cry ourselves to sleep. I often think about what Itachi had to go through, about the fact everyone that had helped us back then was now dead, how much our parents had missed of my and Itachi's life.

When Itachi and I returned things were different. We were both too young to take up the Uchiha so there was a lot of civil unrest. People stepped up to take control and it divided the Uchiha, then there were some who stayed loyal to Itachi and me as the rightful heirs. When Itachi came of age he joined the strife and quickly took control but we lost most of our forces to the Hyuuga. As Itachi built up our forces again, the Hyuuga and Uchiha constantly butted heads and interfered with each other's work. While we were fighting one another the hunters were gaining ground. Finally, Itachi made a treaty with the Hyuuga. They created a small government comprised of two Uchiha members, two Hyuuga members and 3 vampires from lower families that still held great influence, they would stand as a mediator or finalize a decision if the four of us couldn't agree. This system stayed in place up till the hunters association was formed. The Uchiha had Itachi and I on the council, though when we changed leadership they would always go with Itachi instead as I ran the Akatsuki. The Hyuuga would always have the leader of the main family and the branch. I met Neji through this system.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"Puah! Puah!" Naruto coughed as he looked up, shaking the water from his hair, "Ever heard of a wake-up call!" He looked at the man in front of him, who by now he knew as Kakazu. Kakazu was a tan-skinned and tall man. He wore a white hood and a black mask, with his eyes being the only visible part of his face. His eyes were odd, there was simply a green dot in place of his pupil with the rest of his eyes being a deep red. He wore a long overcoat but occasionally Naruto caught a glimpse of stiches under his clothing.

"You have another set of training." He spoke in an intimidating voice.

"Definitely don't understand this kind of training." Naruto quietly muttered to himself, following a stubborn huff.

"It's a more . . . effective method." Kakazu spoke, yanking Naruto to his feet.

"Sure ain't helping anything." Naruto stubbornly replied.

Kakazu released an angry, "Tch," violently punching Naruto. Kakazu flicked his hand as he threw Naruto into the arena for another regime.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Madara was finally assigned as the Uchiha Clan head soon after Hinata took her seat, almost 500 years after I was released from prison. From the very beginning Madara shared several traits with Itachi, not only as a leader but also as a vampire. Madara was very well-known within the clan and a prodigy, he had an iron fist but was still very kind when it came to his fellow vampires.

Hashirama was the leader of the Hunters and a Senju. He and Madara had met on a hunting expedition, Hashirama was hunting for vampires and Madara was scouting for hunters. There was a small lake dividing them so they were unable to attack each other and unintentionally their meaningless banter developed into a strong friendship.

The simple proposal of an alliance between our two species seemed ridiculous but in the end the proposed settlement promised benefits for both sides and the Hunter's Association was formed. Hashirama had taken the name Hokage, which was originally given to the hunter's head. Madara worked alongside him as an advisor. From the very beginning our kind was alienated, despite the efforts of both Madara and Hashirama we always ended up getting the unfavorable side of any agreement made with the hunters. However, Madara held no harsh feelings toward the association for the treatment of our kind. Hashirama and Madara's relationship had long developed into something more than friends or business associates, unknowing to others.

The Uchiha and the Senju were two of the largest and most influential clans. Hashirama and Madara were both prodigies within their clans, they were both leaders. This was a time when such relations was considered disgusting and unacceptable. Soon rumors spread of their relationship, if these rumors were to be proven true then both of them could have their status stripped and the alliance made null. Neither of them were willing to risk their people's safety.

The Senju elders acted to quell the rumors and arranged a marriage for Hashirama. Hashirama became engaged to Mito Uzumaki, she was a powerful hunter from the Uzumaki Clan and was both beautiful and kind. The two became very clos,e however, almost like a ghost, Madara was always with them. Whether it was due to Hashirama's insistence or his own jealousy, I don't know. Hashirama then married Mito and cut of his relations to Madara as anything more than a friend.

Madara died in a war against the Akatsuki not too long after. Grief-stricken to the marriage, exhausted from constant battle, projecting his hatred and disgust on his enemies; he wasn't stable enough to fight, yet no one could stop him. When Hashirama got the news it all fell apart, and the affair was revealed. For weeks he cried over the loss, cursing the war, the world, all but abandoning his duties. When his wife finally got him to jump back he worked that much harder to increase relations between the Senju and Uchiha, and to avenge his lost love's life by joining the war. Every day he mourned his lost lover, every day he repented for the cruel actions taken and the idocity he shown, and everyday he begged for forgiveness.

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"I don't know, there's hundreds of barriers, it could be anything." Itachi angrily grunted.

"Well it's obviously an invisible barrier." Hinata stated matter-of-factly.

Neji looked at her, shaking his head no, "Not the time to be a sarcastic asshole."

"Sorry." Hinata mumbled in reply.

"Okay, how about this. Where did we lose Naruto's trail, and where did we lose Obito's trail?" Tsunade sighed as she stood up from her desk, walking over to a map of Konoha she had in her office.

"Naruto we lost about a mile into the woods behind his house." Kyuubi spoke.

"Obito, Sasuke's house." Itachi followed. Tsunade grabbed a nearby marker marking the locations on her map then looking to Itachi for help.

"Okay, we lost them in Konoha, so they have to be in Konoha. At least, the barrier has to be here." Itachi spoke, irritation gracing his features.

"If they have a settlement in Konoha how would we find it?" Kakashi chimed in. "We can't sense them, the barrier's too strong."

"Izumo." Tsunade turned to one of her two guards. Izumo had brown hair, combed down to cover his right eye and dark brown eyes, he stepped forward, turning to her.

"Get the Anbu to start researching that barrier. Find out what kind of barrier it is, and how to reverse it." Tsunade ordered. Izumo nodded, leaving the room.

"They're not gonna get anywhere anytime soon." Itachi sighed.

"I know, but we have to do something. Until we can figure it out, something has to work." Tsunade sighed.

"Okay, here." Hinata grabbed the marker from Tsunade, she walked over to the map and circled a huge location in eastern Konoha, using the points where they lost Obito and Naruto as borders. "We know the barrier is somewhere in this vicinity."

"It could be either two smaller barriers, or one large one." Kakashi spoke up.

"Someone defeated Sasuke and someone else captured Naruto, with no trail they're probably still somewhere in Konoha. Since they kidnapped Naruto rather than just kill him it means they need him for some reason, the Akatsuki doesn't look highly on hostages, they just want death and destruction. Now, Obito wouldn't come alone, there's too many factors right now, he's not stupid. However, the Akatsuki are all killers, if he needs something from Naruto he wouldn't be stupid enough to leave him alone with any of the other members unless he can keep an eye on them. In other words, Obito and Naruto's kidnapper are together, now they're isn't any location where the two trails meet so Hinata's right, they're in that vicinity somewhere."

"Whatever they're doing they probably need a closed off space. Somewhere secluded, where no one can hear what's happening." Neji spoke.

"What's all there, Tsunade?" Itachi questioned.

"I don't know, farms, houses, but is it really that easy?" Tsunade asked.

"No, because knowing the Akatsuki," Itachi grabbed the marker and circled most of eastern Konoha, "It's more fair to say the barrier reaches past Konoha, into the mountains, and possibly even further."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

/

"Itachi?"

"Yes, Sasuke?" Itachi asked as the two stood in the middle of a destroyed town.

"Why is there always so much death?" Itachi looked down at his wide-eyed younger brother, smiling gently,

"Do you dislike death?"

"Yes." Sasuke nodded in response.

"Death will always surround us, my dear brother. We're a clan that will forever be immersed in blood, a clan that hungers it. Before time even began it was decided that two sides were to hate each other. Hunters and vampires, as long as we exist separated, nothing will change."

"Why can't it change?"

"No one has made an attempt at going against the natural order."

"Why don't you go against it?"

Itachi gave another loving smile, "To go against the natural order one must be willing to give up anything for that single idea and there are things that I'm not willing to give up." Itachi smiled as he lightly poked his brother's forehead.

/

I met many such idiots through my time in this world, people who were willing to go against what they were forced to follow, however, in the end nature defeats who they are. A hunter cannot spend their life with a vampire without either losing their humanity or one day leaving the one they care for. A vampire cannot stay with a human or hunter without taking away what means the most to them or forever thirsting for their life line and being willing to still lose them in the end. The two sides are forever stuck in a natural order, neither side can gain anything from the other without first losing something of equal importance.

/

"Madara! Concentrate!" Sasuke snapped as he looked over the boy's shoulder as he attempted to map out a strategy.

"I can't!" Madara sighed, "How did Itachi deal with his little brother going to war?"

"It's Izuna's first time?"

"Yeah. I know I need to figure this out but my minds just not in it, would you do it for me?"

"Nice try."

"Hah, I will always hate the work part. Hey, Sasuke, I've been doing this for a couple thousand years and I still don't understand."

"Understand what?"

"What would it take to stop the war? No more of these battle plans, strategies, this war has been going on since you were a kid, even before, why can't we just stop it?"

I had heard such questions so many times, from so many people, it was rather annoying now. "Many people have tried, yet, in all my time, no one has succeeded." Sasuke replied.

"I really wanna try. I feel like in all my time I haven't done one memorable thing for the Uchiha, I wanna change it, Sasuke. I met this hunter recently, Hashirama, I don't know much about him but despite being on different sides, even knowing we're supposed to be enemies, we were able to connect. I must be able to use it, maybe I can convince him to make an alliance between our two sides, and then maybe things could get better, and maybe they could change."

Sasuke nodded in reply, "Hn. I wish you good luck, now then, you still have this to worry about."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

A red and black urn. That's what they used to hold Madara's ashes, they would be sent to the underground archives within the compound alongside the previous Uchiha Clan heads. They had a painting of him at the funeral, it was large, sitting on a small stand behind the urn. The painter did well though you couldn't tell his spiked hair was waist-length, and the painter drew both eyes where Madara usually had his shoulder-length bangs framing the sides of his face covering most of his right eye. His pale skin stood out among the painting, showing in contrast to his dark brown eyes and dark blue-black hair. Sasuke's eyes slightly grew as he turned around, an odd sensation running through him. He left his seat, alongside his brother, and walked to the back of the hall.

"You have guts, entering a vampire compound."

"I wanted to pay my respects." The voice replied, leaving the shadows. Sasuke looked at the man, he was tall with tanned skin and dark eyes. He had waist-length black hair styled in a center-parted fringe that framed his face. Sasuke knew that, under normal circumstances, he was a handsome man. However, right now, he had deep bags under his swollen eyes, his hair moving off in every direction. "Besides under the laws of the treaty we're allowed to enter each other's compounds."

"Which is probably the only thing that kept you from getting eaten, Hashirama."

"We've only met once and yet you remember me."

"You seem to know me as well."

"Sasuke Uchiha, a traitor."

"You dare insult me in my own home." Sasuke replied with no venom, leaning back against the wall. Hashirama slightly smiled in return. "I knew about your relationship long before it was exposed. Everything that happened can only be accepted as the natural order, neither of you were strong enough to go against it. It's not possible for things to work out between a hunter and a vampire."

"I'm assuming you've never loved anyone."

"You'd be right."

"Then you can't understand anything, you can't understand the idiocy of the words you preach."

"You're right but I've lived many lives and I can preach my idiocy based on what I've seen countless times."

"Then what should I do next?"

"Revenge, hatred, anger, could you simply not just mourn the dead and make amends?" I was so bored. So bored of seeing it repeat, over and over again, the same thing. Sasuke straightened himself up and reached a hand out to Hashirama, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, until we can find a proper replacement I will be taking up the Uchiha Clan, I will follow the ideals of my predecessor and make amends."

Hashirama looked at him surprised, then simply smiled, shaking his hand, "Thank you."

/

Despite the choices made and the paths taken, you find that history has an uncanny way of always repeating itself. Whether it's to remind us of what we've already overlooked or to warn us that while things are changing we can never truthfully leave the past behind, I don't particularly care. So many people who have come and gone, so many people who always tried to go against the natural order, yet, we find that the natural order is as it always was. How many funerals have I sat at? It's the opinion of Mother Nature that such idealist have no place in a world that will always be torn apart by its own resistance.

A white casket with a black stone. Just another funeral for one unable to defeat the natural order. Just another painting over a grave and just another one I couldn't save_. Naruto_. Sasuke looked forward at the mourners, watching the bright smile shown on the painting. _Naruto_. He watched everyone cry.

/

"Are you okay?" He turned to see Hinata, her eyes downcast as she gently rubbed his shoulder.

"Huh?" Sasuke questioned as he looked up, "I'm fine." He replied, confused by her sudden concern.

"Don't lie, Sasuke. It's okay." Sasuke turned as Itachi stood to his side.

"I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?" Sasuke questioned, Itachi simply stared forward. Sasuke looked around, everyone dressed in dark clothing, was he at a funeral? "Who?" He questioned, moving past his brother and into the walkway, looking forward at the casket. He froze as he saw the painting above it, "Naruto." Sasuke looked around at everyone, "No, this isn't . . ." Sasuke looked at everyone, concern covering his features. He shook his head, "It isn't real." He turned, running from the funeral, the world around him cracking and slowly breaking apart, the ground breaking away as he fell through it. Unable to scream for help he simply fell into the white nothingness.

/

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"How are you feeling?" Obito smiled as he walked into the cell, a sandwich and bottle of water in his hand.

"Better than ever." Naruto heaved, trying to not seem desperate but still dramatically scrambling to grab the water bottle.

Obito smiled, setting down the tray of food so the blonde could reach it. "You know, Naruto, I don't wanna make this awkward for either of us."

"Hah, I guessed as much." Naruto sarcastically replied as he bit into the sandwich.

"You know, I know a lot about you, Naruto, I've been watching you for a while. Every friend you've ever had, every mistake you ever made, every time you went to school. I know everything about you."

"Wow, stalker much." Naruto muttered to himself.

"Every lie you were ever told." Obito smiled.

"Every lie?" Naruto questioned, his interest peaked.

"Yup. Everything you never knew. Ask me anything."

"Why did you say Sasuke killed my family?" Obito raised an eyebrow, kinda surprised that was what he chose to ask.

"Well because he did." Obito replied.

"That doesn't make sense though, why would my friends, my family, all trust him?"

"Well no one knows the truth about that night except for me and him. Granted, Hinata, Neji, Itachi, they all probably know."

"The truth?"

"You see, your sister and you had the same power. Your sister had awoken it and I wanted it. So, that night, I wanted to create a bit of chaos in order to extract her. Frankly, now I see that a more discreet attack is much better, still, I was younger then. That's beside the point, anyway, when a vampire is first turned the process is excruciating. They'll go on a rampage in search of fresh blood, attack anything that's nearby, it's usually a very secluded process in order to protect others. I wanted to use that and create chaos. Your parents were my targets."

"You son of a bitch." Naruto cursed, jumping at him, only to be pulled back by the chains.

"Ah, ah, I'm not done speaking. I never got to your father, your mother, it turns out, was all the chaos I needed. You inherited this power from her, however, something about her body was unable to sustain the ability so it never awoke in her. However, when her pure hunter blood mixed with my pure vampire blood it awoke her power, it awoke it in an extreme and horrifying way. She lost control and went homicidal. Sasuke was nearby, he had followed me. Your mother's rampage had injured your father, Sasuke left him to die and then killed your mother. Then your sister just showed up at a bad time, before our members could get ahold of her he lost control and killed her."

"He did it to save everyone?" Naruto asked himself.

"Priorities, I guess." Obito shrugged, yawning.

"How did you, how do you know him?"

"Sasuke? Well it was about 23,000 years ago, well more like 23,500, but who cares about the specifics. He and Itachi, oh, Kyuubi too, they found me as a baby, my parents had died at war. It was one of the harsher times of the war, low resources, starvation and unrest. They couldn't find anyone willing to take me so they did, they raised me."

"Then how can you do all . . ." Naruto trailed off as he glared at Obito.

"Do you love anyone?" Naruto visibly stiffened at the question, Obito catching on quickly. He smiled sincerely at the boy, "Be careful, or Itachi might kill you to keep the clan safe. That's what he did to my love. You're in so much worse because you are the Hokage, or are soon to be."

"She was a hunter?"

Obito closed his eyes in reminisce, "Yes. Powerful, strong, beautiful, kind. . ."

"They killed her?"

"Itachi, yes, Sasuke was the only one who stood by my side, for a while."

"What's the point of all this though? Killing all those people?"

"Revenge, enjoyment, delight, wasting away time." Obito smiled, closing his eyes.

"If she was so noble what would she think of you now?" Naruto glared. Obito's face hardened as he fiercely brought his hand back, violently hitting Naruto. He turned, leaving the room.

"You happy now?" Kakazu questioned as he waited outside the cell.

"I'll kill him." Obito cursed.

"Ah, you can't do that. You're the one who needs him." Obito stopped smiling, turning to face Kakazu. "Whoa, what is it?"

"Can I break him?"

"Uhm? I guess, you're the one who needs him." Kakazu replied, confusion on his face.

"I wanna hurt him. I'm gonna do to him, what they did to me."

"Yeah, good luck killing Sasuke." Kakazu replied, unamused.

"No, I'd have to kill Kyuubi in order to really hurt Itachi. Still, it might be nice, breaking him." Obito smiled excitedly as he walked away.

"You psychotic fuck." Kakazu sighed in irritation.

* * *

So Naruto hit a nerve.

Oh, and just so you know the Uchiha Clan Massacre was a mix of the attack when Sasuke was a child, with Itachi's betrayal coming in with the Obito situation, so I didn't specifically have the Uchiha Clan Massacre but two separate events that together would make it up.

Fav, Follow, review, life, so on and so forth.


	19. Chapter 18

As promised we're back to the main story, but still it's gonna focus mainly on Sasuke and his friends because I don't have the heart enough to torture poor Naruto, that is, of course, unless you ask nicely XD

* * *

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto sat on the hard cell floor, _it's so painful. _Naruto's body lurched forward as he vomited blood, collapsing onto his side. _It's so painful, I'm so tired. How much longer is this going to go on? _Naruto felt a tinge of fear rush his body as he watched the blood. _Till I'm dead, right? They won't stop until I'm dead. Even if I survive long enough to help them, they'll kill me in the end. So, death. _Naruto's body began shaking at the idea, he clenched his fist in an attempt to calm his nerves. _No, it's painful, then there'll be death. Pain, pain, pain, over and over, then death._

"Hah, hah, hah." Naruto found it growing harder to breath as the idea settled, his breathing growing labored as he felt his body beginning to numb. Everything felt so light for a single moment. _I'm scared. I don't wanna, I don't want to die. I can't win, I can't fight my way out, I'm not strong enough. Somebody, I'm afraid, I'm scared. Anybody? Where is everybody? Please, help me._

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"We still can't find Naruto, I'm trying, we're all trying but it's hard. We can't break this damn barrier. I'm sorry we couldn't properly protect him while you were gone. We were all so concentrated on Obito and you I don't think anyone considered Naruto being a target. Why aren't you waking up? We need you Sasuke, definitely now. You know Obito and the Akatsuki best, I could never look past the clan." Itachi ran a shaky hand through his messy hair, why wasn't Sasuke waking up?

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Shit!" Sasuke cursed as he harshly landed on the white surface, he looked around. Everything around him was white, there was no specific shape or design, it was all just white, he wasn't even sure if he was on the ground since everything just blended.

"Hey asshole." Sasuke quickly turned to the voice.

"N," Sasuke froze, saying nothing and simply staring wide-eyed. "H-how?"

The girl smiled at him, "Who knows. I'm either a figment of your imagination or some left over power that stuck to you since we were always together."

"Naruko." Sasuke simply said, staring at her.

"Okay, we get it, stop staring." Naruko glared. Sasuke didn't move. "Geez, come on, get ahold of yourself." She sighed, walking over to him then slapping him as hard as she could.

"Ow! What the hell!?" Sasuke exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"Ah, there we go." She laughed. Then simply smiled, "I get it now, why we can't be together. Don't feel guilty and what not, I'm not, no, yes, I'm upset but, oh well. You broke my heart, Sasuke Uchiha. Fuck you."

"I'm sorry."

She smiled, "You should be, and to think you're going after my innocent little brother now, you pedophile." She shook her head in disappointment.

"I'm sorry."

"Geez, you better take good care of him, got it? If you make him cry I'll find some way to come back from the dead and beat your ass, granted, I don't really know how I did it this time but that's a problem for later."

"Naruko, that night. . ." Naruko frowned,

"I'll never forgive you, Sasuke, and I'll never forget. The look in your eyes when you killed me. My father was still alive, you could've saved him, but you didn't. You could've tried to find a way to save my mother, but you just killed her, you didn't even try to save her."

"Naruko, I-!"

"No, that's something I can never forgive. You know what though, I'm dead, so who cares what I think and frankly enough my brother doesn't need to know the entire truth. No hard feelings, minus the fact you broke my heart, literally and figuratively."

"I'm sorry."

"Geez, is that all you can say, idiot!" Naruko gave a small smile, "It's true that I can't forgive you, and I'll never forget. Yet, I'll give you my blessing to be with my brother and I'm sure my parents would say the same. Whether it takes 1,000 or 10,000 years I want you to make amends. Stop torturing yourself and repent for your actions. Don't live so much in the past cause, you know what, we're all dead, and that'll never change. The only thing that's holding you back is yourself. I don't mind it, but protect Naruto, please."

Sasuke gave a small smile, "You grew wise in your old age."

"Oh, no, honey, I'm pissed as hell, but I'm trying to do the whole meaningful last words thing, it's not working?"

"I know you too well."

"Yeah, I didn't think so. Listen, I'm dead, Sasuke. I can't forgive or forget, but you can, you can and on my grave, you better, for the sake of my brother and for your own sake."

"It's not that easy."

"Then make it that easy."

"Wow, that's helpful."

"I'm not asking, if you continue dwelling on the past, Sasuke, you're just going to dig yourself deeper and deeper until you lose what's left, not that there's much."

"You just can't be sincere."

Naruko smiled, "No, I really can't. Sasuke, I need you to take care of my brother. To do that I need you to take care of yourself too."

"I don't. . ."

"Sasuke, if your incompetence kills Naruto as it did us then I will make sure you experience true hell."

"What do you want from me? This, this is my best."

"No, it's not, and everyone knows it."

"So what should I do? Kill mercilessly, suck dry life after life." Sasuke spat.

"Take care of yourself, if that means drinking a little more blood, sleeping, and actually watching out for yourself then deal with it."

"Why do I have to?"

"Because that's your nature, if it means protecting Naruto, protecting your friends then I think a pardon is due, no matter what it is you do. If it saves your most important people. You will live forever, and suffer no punishment for your actions, you're immortality is the cruelest torture one could ever be given and as it is, your punishment for the lives you take. All else is the punishment you deliver onto yourself." Naruko sighed, "Hah, I don't wanna be all wise and shit, death hasn't been kind, must I say. It feels like my power is fading. I'm not sure how much longer I can talk with you." She smiled. "Protect my brother, and take care of him. Likewise, learn to trust him, okay?" She smiled, watching her hand as it began to fade.

"W-wait." Sasuke began.

"Later, asshole." Naruko smiled.

"W-wait! Don't!" Sasuke screamed, running through her as she became transparent. He slammed into the ground, once again falling through it.

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

Sasuke's eyes opened, the comma-like figures in his eyes spreading and converging along the edge of his iris, taking the appearance of three intersecting ellipses. His eyes opened in surprise, tears silently streaming down his cheeks.

"Sasuke." Itachi breathed.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Obito smiled as he entered the room, watching as the boy lied on the ground, "How are you?" Naruto glared at the man, having lost the strength to argue. "Such a shame, don't you think? Wasn't your precious Sasuke supposed to protect you? He's never been one to fail a job." Obito smiled. "His precious Uchiha pride, that's all either of them care about." Obito smiled, "It overjoys me to know I've stumped them, to know I hold their precious Hokage. Granted, it's fair to say they might not even be trying to find you. I mean, men as wise and old as them, to be so easily stumped, tsk, I don't think so. Honestly, they don't have much loyalty to the Hokage, if you were gone the position would actually move to the Uchiha. That's a scary thought, how ignorant you must be to put a high-ranking man in the hands of his competition." Obito scoffed.

"They aren't like that." Naruto cursed.

"You've known them for what, half a year? I've known them for over 20,000. They only care about their clan, everything they've done was for their job not you. Their job, Sasuke's job, was to watch over you. Of course, he did it splendidly however when it mattered I find it odd he wasn't there, I even told him that I was coming for you. Yet he did, nothing, he chose to fight me even when he knew you were in danger." Obito shrugged.

"Like you gave him a choice." Naruto heaved, pushing himself off the ground and falling back against the dungeon wall.

"Why do you trust someone like him?"

"No matter what you say, he's supported me till now."

"Well, yeah, it was his job. They've done it before, why would you be any different? Sasuke's betrayed his own brother before. His only loyalties are to his next kill."

"Sure." Naruto sarcastically replied.

"I'm not surprised that you don't believe me, after all, if he was so dangerous that also brings into account the loyalties of those who knew who he was and yet trusted him with you. That's just it, Naruto. I've seen everything. I know everything. No one in your life is especially there for you, they're repaying a debt to your father or they were assigned to watch you or they were simply after your position. Either way, they're all just stuck watching your back."

"My life is none of your business."

Obito's smile grew, "Then you acknowledge it."

"I know, I know about their lies. Ever since Sasuke began training me, I've sensed it, the evil in so many around me. From my own caretaker to some of my closest friends. I know they're vampires, but, I know not all vampires are bad. I know that for sure, I mean, if no one's getting hurt, then shouldn't it be okay." Naruto spoke, his voice growing faint.

"But you're getting hurt, and they knew that you would, yet, they never said anything. Still, no matter what, every vampire has a craving for human blood. I wonder if any of them have looked at you and wondered how it would taste. How can they care when you're so easily given to creatures who could so easily break, even your precious Sasuke was unable to control his bloodlust and attacked your sister. Are you so unimportant?"

"No." Naruto said with little certainty.

"We're right here, Naruto. Right under their feet yet why has no one come to save you? One week, and here you still are." Obito whispered into the boys ear.

"That's. . ." Naruto began.

"It's okay, I'm sure Sasuke is just blind with rage." Obito whispered, then turned leaving.

Naruto lied back, leaning against the dungeon as he watched the ceiling, _have I been abandoned? _

_~/Itachi P.O.V/~_

"Sasuke!" Itachi exclaimed, catching his brother as he jumped up in surprise, nearly flying from the bed. Itachi caught Sasuke's eyes as they quickly changed back to their normal shade. Sasuke clung to Itachi's shirt as the pain in his head subsided.

"Itachi. Something's happened, hasn't it?" Sasuke heaved.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Look who's awake." Hinata smiled as Sasuke barged into the Hokage's office, Itachi following behind him.

"What do we know?" Sasuke asked, ignoring the statement.

"Right down to business then." Tsunade sighed.

"From what we can gather Naruto, Obito and whoever took Naruto is somewhere in this vicinity." Neji explained as he grabbed the map, "However, they have a barrier up, our sensing abilities can't get past it."

"Neither can mine." Itachi followed.

"We've been having the ANBU research the barrier, we can enter it but once inside it completely blocks our sensing ability. The dogs can't even follow the smell. Honestly, we've been searching every large farmhouse or abandoned building within that vicinity, trying to find something." Tsunade explained.

"But it's hard to map out something we can't see or sense." Kyuubi sighed.

"The Akatsuki is a group of s-level assassins, they could have a barrier around Konoha if they wanted. Okay, so you have farms, abandoned buildings, right?" Sasuke questioned.

"Basically." Tsunade replied.

"No, what about landmarks, natural landmarks?" Sasuke asked, everyone looking at him curiously. "Almost all the hideouts people know about are factories, they're compounds, villages, buildings but that's not how we worked. We used those hideouts for the specific reason of getting caught, in order to be found. No one, I mean no one, ever really got deep into our hard structure because our most important compounds were either in mountains, underground, under water, in extinct volcanos, we owned a lot of islands." Sasuke replied.

"Why'd you never mention it?" Kakashi questioned.

"I don't remember a lot of specific details about my time with the Akatsuki, the withdrawl afterwards was just so horrible that my mind couldn't really connect anything. I was much stronger at that time, it was a lot easier for me but afterwards that loss just destroyed everything that had built up. Even if I said something it wouldn't have matter, one, because I didn't remember the location of any that I knew and, two, because there are thousands upon thousands around the world from my time with the original Akatsuki, with the Akatsuki we know, and from the time following my imprisonment. It would never have mattered, even if we could find the hideouts, there's a barrier hiding and blocking it off from the surface and it's much stronger than the one you're dealing with now."

"So are you telling us to break into the ground?" Tsunade questioned.

"No, it'd be too deep down and you'd risk collapsing the hideout on itself." Sasuke replied.

"There's the mountain, that's the biggest thing dividing us from our neighbors but they could be underground as well." Tsunade spoke. "So, how would we find him?"

"I don't know. Our only chance of getting in is the entrances." Sasuke spoke.

"But they're hidden." Kakashi repeated what Sasuke had originally said.

"Then what can we do?" Tsunade emphasized.

"I really don't know." Sasuke spoke, crushing whatever hope the others had left.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

_Pain then death, pain, pain, death. _Naruto clenched the cell floor after another fight. His body hurt so much that it was numb. _Death. _Naruto closed his eyes, breathing a shaky sigh, _its okay, there's no helping it. I can't escape, I can't find a way to escape. I'm not afraid, it's okay. There's nothing to fear, there's no pain, if I scream, or cry, or beg, nothing will change. I won't give them that satisfaction when there's no point in it. I'm not afraid, it's all okay, calm down. _Naruto violently coughed, blood spilling from his mouth as he rolled onto his stomach, _it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. It's okay if no one comes to save me, it's okay because they won't care, I was just a job. _Naruto closed his eyes, not even believing his own words but still finding comfort in them because in the end, he wouldn't have to face leaving the other's.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"The opening could be anywhere, do you guys at least know how to break the current barrier?" Sasuke asked.

"If we did don't you think we already would have?" Neji replied.

"Then I guess we're searching ever part of eastern Konoha in great detail." Sasuke shrugged in annoyance. "The entrance could be anywhere." Sasuke turned to the map, "The seal won't be in a heavily populated area." Sasuke said, crossing out communities, "They need a secluded place where they can work, move in and out without being noticed. An abandoned building or a house would actually be most likely, no one would question it."

"Any place also near a crowded location is off limits. Places nearby roads, trails, and so on." Itachi intervened, Sasuke nodded crossing out the locations. "However, if they're underground then they need some food source, I originally assumed they probably had underlings retrieving bodies for them but I've questioned tons of newborns and turned vampires, they had no idea what I was talking about."

"Maybe, have you looked into any missing persons? If we can find their comfort area then maybe we can get a better idea of where they are." Sasuke asked.

"I'm on it. Come Kakashi." Tsunade replied.

Kyuubi sighed, speaking to Hinata and Neji, "I'm with Itachi so much that sometimes I forget how amazing Sasuke is."

The two smiled at the comment, "I hate to say it, but, ironically, Sasuke has just lived more. Itachi's only concern is his clan, you and Sasuke. Itachi's wise with experience and age but Sasuke has variety as well, the only thing he'll probably ever beat his brother in." Neji spoke.

Sasuke looked, only he, Kyuubi, Itachi, Hinata and Neji were there. Everyone sat in a tense silence, until finally Hinata spoke up, "What's happening to Naruto?"

"They took him alive, but. . ." Itachi followed.

"What do define as alive?" Kyuubi questioned. Itachi shook his head in response, seeing the scorn of disgust on his brother's face.

Sasuke violently clenched his fist, speaking up, "It's very rare."

"What is?" Neji questioned.

"All my time with the Akatsuki, it was very rare for people to follow Obito's rules. He's always been a passive person, as long as his final goal is accomplished he didn't care what the other's did. Like that, hostages, informants, innocent civilians who were simply dragged in were often times tortured and starved for the sake of enjoyment. We all got off on it, having that kind of power over a person, it was exhilarating. They're only kept alive until their use runs out."

"Naruto grew up in a peaceful, pure environment, mostly sheltered from any type of pain or hardship. Spies who were trained to withstand such torture have cracked under the Akatsuki's fist, Naruto wasn't trained, he has what Sasuke taught him." Neji spoke.

"The more he reacts the more the Akatsuki will do." Itachi followed.

"It already been a week, and look where we are." Hinata sighed.

"He's strong, mentally and physically. We should know well, when someone can't die from simple breaks you don't consider what you're doing and that is the worst kind of torture. Naruto's not a vampire, he's much easier to kill so they'll have to be much more careful. That might be the only thing protecting him right now, but it's something. Obito still needs him, we just need to hurry before that use runs out." Sasuke finished.

"Sauske, what happened in the fight between Obito and you?" Hinata once again broke the silence.

"He wanted me to work with him, return to the old ways and to capture Naruto, I refused and we fought. He needs something from them, I don't completely understand it, but back then too, he was trying to get Naruko. He talked about the history of the hunter's too, how little we knew about it. He said he found something in their history, but I don't know what or why." Sasuke explained.

"Does this mean anything to you? When we found the ashes at the scene they were mixed with flesh and skin." Hinata asked.

"Yeah." Sasuke replied, "Obito was always obsessed with the relations between the species. Why could a human or hunter become a turned vampire, but not a pureblood? Why couldn't a pureblood or a turned become a human or a hunter? Why were humans born from hunters? He would commission experiments and what not, but I never imagined he'd be able to accomplish it."

"Well it doesn't look much like he could." Hinata pointed out.

"What about your comatose state? Why were you asleep so long?" Kyuubi asked.

"Actually, I can explain that." Itachi said. "Sasuke, what'd you see?"

"What'd I see? Memories, hallucinations, that kind of stuff."

"You evolved." Itachi smiled, gaining a curious glance from the others. "Okay, how to explain this. Now the Hyuuga's blood line ability, the Byakugan, is mainly defensive. It protects you both physically and mentally. Now our blood line ability, the Sharingan, is mainly offensive. Both, however, work to organize our memories, protect us from breaking down mentally, however the Byakugan is much stronger in that aspect. The Sharingan is very weak in that aspect so there has to be a backup because at some point our Sharingan will give out. This evolution is what Madara and Izuna called, the Mangekyō Sharingan. I don't know a lot of people who've awakened it. It requires two things, age and mental stress. I awoke mine after Sasuke went rogue, which is probably why Sasuke doesn't know about it.

"Now, when Sasuke was at his prime it was mainly because he was training himself and overeating. For a normal vampire, overeating would put our already sensitive senses and abilities into over drive, something no physical body or mind can survive. However, with our bloodline abilities, along with our immense ages, at some point overeating stops affecting us because of our experience. Sasuke prime was when he was overeating so much, and the effects of overeating were taking him however he wasn't feeling any repercussions so he grew to a point where evolution wasn't even needed. However, following that, you had a rapid decline in ability and stability, plus the strain on your mentality, the Uzumaki-Namikaze's death, falling in love with Naruto, forced you to evolve, awakening your Mangekyō Sharingan. I don't know a lot of people who've had it, me, Sasuke, Izuna, Madara, and Shisui. Obito might as well, but I'm not sure. Honestly, it just makes it easier to organize memories and thoughts so those little details start coming back and making sense. Also you're ability to control and release your bloodline ability grows, you get a little power boost."

_~/Obito P.O.V/~_

"Any news, Zetsu?" Obito questioned as he stretched in his office.

"Plenty." The man replied. He was tall, his skin white, making him look almost sick. His eyes were yellow with short green hair. He sat back, leaning against the dirt wall.

"And?"

"Well, while they are no closer to finding our current location it seems Sasuke has awoken."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's already begun working with the others to locate out hideout."

"Hm, what to do, what to do?" Obito sighed.

"Is there a problem?"

"Time. I've been breaking Naruto both physically and mentally, I've done everything short of killing him but he hasn't awoken at all."

"Are you sure he has the power?"

"You're not the first to ask that and honestly, how can't he? Not only is he the oldest male he's also a pureblooded hunter. His powers are weak because he hasn't even broken through his bodies own barrier. I'm gonna have to keep at it but, hah, it's so annoying."

"Should I misdirect them?"

"No, rather, let's use this."

"Use it?"

"Well, torturing the poor boy isn't helping all that much so let's have a little more fun."

Zetsu raised a curious eyebrow but decided not to ask, "Oh, well, am I needed?"

"No, you're dismissed." Zetsu nodded, disappearing into the wall as Obito left the room.

* * *

Okay, okay, how'd you like the chapter? Yeah, so I added the Mangekyo but I'm not sure about moving ahead of that to the eternal and the rinnegan, I probably won't unless you guys want me to at some point but yeah.

Okay, so our weekly question: What do you think is Obito's final goal?


	20. Chapter 19

Hi, hi, everyone `~`/

Well I wanna give a quick shout out to xxsweetravexx who helped me on this and will hopefully continue to. Much appreciate v.v

Well, everyone, enjoy the story!

* * *

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

_ It doesn't hurt; I have no reason to be afraid. I'll see mom and dad and Naruko, so I have no reason to fear death. I don't feel any pain, I'm okay no matter what, there's nothing I need here, nothing I miss. _Naruto pushed down the images of family and friends. He slightly grabbed at the bars to his prison, desperately pulling himself to his feet as he shook at the bars then ultimately he fell back to his knees. _Everyone was only by my side because it was their job. I'm no longer a burden; it was all just a ploy. _

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Here I am." Sasuke sighed as he stood in front of the grave, dropping a single flower at each of the three graves. "I'll find him, don't worry." He sighed, knelling at the grave, "I can't do much right now until we can make some progress. You know, Naruko, I understand why you want me to return to my old self. I just can't, at the time a part of me was released that I didn't know existed and I fear that side of me. I'll protect Naruto with my current strength; however, if the time comes where it's not enough, then, even if it means returning to that time, I'll do what must be done. I never did tell you, did I? Whether it was a hallucination or really you, I need to tell you. I don't quite understand it all myself, because frankly, I've never had a very good grip on my emotions. I think I love him, at least enough that no matter what it takes I'm gonna save him, and I'll kill Obito for hurting him. For the first time in a while I'm experiencing something new. I can't tell you if it's love, but I guess I'm more open to the idea. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being able to love you, I'm sorry for killing you, I'm sorry for everything. I'm gonna try, I'm gonna try and live from now on and I'm gonna try to let go of the past, I'm just gonna concentrate on the now. I'll protect him, Naruko, I'll never forget but I know I need to try and make amends. So, hopefully, you can rest in peace as well."

_~/Tsunade P.O.V/~_

"We went back a month, collecting information on everyone who went missing, died from blood loss and so on." Izumo explained as he and Kakashi stood in the Hokage's office.

"These are all the missing persons' in accordance with the sections that were cornered off." Kakashi said, slapping down a small pile. Tsunade nodded, grabbing the papers.

"Good, thank you both, dismissed." Tsunade waved them away. Kakashi listened but Izumo stayed behind, turning to the Hokage,

"Ma'am I know I have no right however, is it really okay? To put something so important in the hands of and under the guidance of the Uchiha brothers." Izumo questioned, concern covering his features.

"No, not at all. Frankly enough, Izumo, I have absolutely no trust in them. You know what though; they have more experience and knowledge when it comes to the Akatsuki. Even more so, they're both exceptional strategists." Tsunade replied, exasperated. She leaned back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling.

"Still, you're definitely not second rate, madam Hokage."

Tsunade smiled at the compliment, shaking her head as she stood from her chair. She walked to the large window behind her desk, overlooking Konoha. "Our difference is humanity, Izumo. In the way of common sense and strategies you won't find better, but the reason the vampires are on the short list for the seat of Hokage is because they have no sense of morals and they don't very well know the meaning of mercy. They may not want, or care, to save Naruto but they won't back out simply because they also have an incentive in hunting down the Akatsuki."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"It's well spread out. If I didn't know any better I'd say that these were just coincidental disappearances." Itachi said as he leaned on his elbow, against the chair's arm.

"Then you'd probably be right, I mean it was a good idea, but these have nothing to do with the Akatsuki, or if they do, it doesn't tell us anything." Neji shrugged, throwing down the pile of papers in his hand.

"It doesn't make sense." Hinata followed.

"You're right." Itachi replied, running a hand through his hair, "How injured was Obito when you two fought, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked at Kyuubi, Kyuubi shrugged in response, Sasuke doubtfully answering, "I'm pretty sure I got a few good hits in but I was up against 5 well-trained vampires, I don't really know."

"Was it enough for him to bleed? Did he use his bloodline abilities?" Itachi questioned as he ran his fingers across the map, seemingly deep in thought.

"Yeah." Sasuke replied.

"How many deaths or missing people were reported that night, or the day after?" Itachi asked.

"That I know of? None." Tsunade replied, carefully watching the group of vampires as they restlessly moved around her office.

"Then how did Obito recuperate?" Itachi questioned, turning to face the others. "They couldn't possibly have an entire group of human's underground with them. Even I know, they're not the type to sit there and take care of humans like cattle, and they wouldn't drink the bagged blood."

"The amount of deaths, also, it's not enough to encompass all the Akatsuki members, granted, they do have a few hunters working alongside them as well however, even then, it's fair to say not every member of Akatsuki is here." Sasuke said as he joined his hands, leaning forward and resting his head on his joined hands.

"What do you mean?" Kyuubi questioned.

"For Obito to recover his wounds and regain his strength, he'd need substantial amounts of blood however no one was killed that night, so how did he replenish?" Sasuke asked.

"Maybe they're not feeding in Konoha." Hinata spoke up. "They could be going through the mountain." Hinata pointed at the location on the mountain her eyebrows slightly creased in thought.

"Even if they are, Obito would've had to feed immediately after the fight, so where did he go?" Kyuubi questioned.

"Okay, on this map, where all is your territory?" Itachi asked Tsunade, motioning towards the map.

"Sasuke was attacked here, so where's the closest outlying location?" Neji followed.

"That'd be here." Tsunade pointed to a small outlying section.

"Is there a village there?" Hinata asked, her voice raising in excitement.

"Yeah, I think so." Tsunade replied, "I think it's independent as well."

"Then let's go. See what we can find there." Sasuke said quickly moving to his feet.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

_It's okay, it doesn't hurt. _Naruto quickly dodged Hidan's incoming kick. _It doesn't hurt to move. _Naruto stealthily moved to the side, forward, and went to punch Hidan, the man quickly avoiding. _It doesn't hurt._

"Is it just me or is he keeping up with Hidan?" Kakazu questioned.

"Haha, he is, he is!" Obito exclaimed in excitement. "It's finally started!" Obito yelled, fiercely shaking Kakazu. "He's finally releasing it!" Obito pushed a dizzy Kakazu away. "Well! What are you waiting for?!" Obito yelled, "Get in there! Join them!" Obito pushed Kakazu towards the bars.

"Wha!? Why!" Kakazu exclaimed in surprise.

"We can't stop now! We're finally making progress! Go! Go!" Obito yelled.

"Urgh." Kakazu grunted in annoyance as he headed down the stairs, toward the bars. Obito jumped in excitement as he harshly grasped the seat he was in, overlooking the lower section where he was watching Hidan and Naruto fight. Kakazu came up behind the boy, harshly grabbing his head and throwing him into the arena's wall.

"Hah! Why are you here, bastard?!" Hidan exclaimed.

"Don't ask me." Kakazu sighed.

"I have it under control!" Hidan exclaimed.

"Yeah, you're not getting beaten by the shrimp." Kakazu sarcastically spoke, running a hand through his hair in annoyance

"Wanna go?!" Hidan slammed his foot down in anger.

"Not really." Kakazu yawned.

Naruto stumbled as he clawed at the wall, trying to get to his feet. _It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. _Despite what he was telling himself, blood was dripping down his head and he could barely stand. "Che! Ruining my fun." Hidan cursed, kicking Naruto's side hard enough the boy slid across the arena.

"Don't be such a baby." Kakazu followed, kicking the boy back to Hidan.

"Sorry, I don't like to share!" Hidan replied, kicking Naruto back.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Looks like we got one right." Neji sighed, solemnly looking around at the scattered bodies.

"We need to search the village, see if we can find out where Obito went afterwards. See if you can sense something, may smell, follow the scent of blood, maybe we can even see a blood trail." Itachi called, sighing as he gently caressed a nearby woman, his eyes full of sorrow.

"How did no one find this, after so long?" Sasuke questioned.

"It's too much for one person; I'd say they've been feeding off this town for a while. Probably just one or two, when they wanted to feed, but then they probably filled up before taking Naruto, killed everyone, no witnesses and if anything went wrong they'd be unstoppable. He's probably overfeeding." Itachi went on.

"Still, for no hunter, or human, despite everything." Sasuke spoke, looking at the scattered bodies that littered the small village.

"Maybe they did, there might be a barrier around here, in order to sense who leaves and who comes. Just like marking cattle, well, we should be fine, there's not much reason for them to return now." Itachi sighed, standing up.

"From the state of some of these people, it's fair to say that a couple newborns and some wild animals got in." Neji spoke as some of the bodies had been mutilated past recognition.

"It's so sad, yet so beautiful." Hinata spoke as she walked to a geyser in the middle of the village, it shoot into the sky, surrounded by a small fountain.

"I've done worse." Sasuke glared at the ground.

"Hm." Hinata sighed, nodding slightly. Sasuke looked up, his eyes concentrating on the geyser.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Kyuubi questioned as Sasuke's eyes changed red. Sasuke turned towards Kyuubi,

"An odd feeling." Sasuke replied, his eyes opening in understanding, "I've been here before." He whispered, looking around.

"Really? When?" Hinata asked.

Sasuke shook his head, shaking away the memory as it came to him. "It was when I was with the Akatsuki. Nearby there was a trader, he specialized in hunter turned vampires. We'd just gotten through the first Hunter-Akatsuki war, it was against the Uzumaki clan, we had lost a lot of our men and there were a lot of hunter's who were desperate for one last breath or who were just completely destroyed from the war. The trader had just what we wanted and was able to smuggle in some hunter turned for us. He shared Obito's obsession with the species and their relations. Honestly, he's probably dead by now, it's been so long."

"But still, if we can find his hideout maybe we can learn more about Obito, if they worked together." Kyuubi spoke up, smiling at the other's.

"Actually, it might be worse than that, if he is alive. If he specialized in hunter turned vampires imagine what he'd do for a hokage level hunter turned." Neji pointed out.

"Would Obito really go that far? He needs him." Hinata asked.

"You're right, but once his use runs out, who knows? The reason the hunter turned are so important is because despite being turned vampires they retain their bloodline abilities from life. If this is all about Naruto's ability, then he might just do it." Itachi contemplated.

"How long has it been now?" Kyuubi questioned, referring to Naruto's imprisonment.

"A little over a week and a half." Itachi sighed.

"Che!" Sasuke cursed, turning toward the forest, "I have a pretty good idea where the hideout was located, if he's still alive then we can talk to him and if he's not then maybe we can look through his stuff and get a better idea what Obito's final goal is."

"Should we contact Tsunade first?" Kyuubi asked.

"Call her, but don't tell her everything, just tell her about the village." Itachi replied.

"On it."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"This is it." Sasuke said, "Those rocks." Everyone looked at the two rocks that sat parallel to one another, barely noticeable amongst the forestry.

"But there's nothing here." Hinata pointed out as they looked at the dense forestry.

"It's an illusion. Another barrier." Itachi said.

"Yeah, that's how he prefers to work. The two rocks mark the barrier." Sasuke said, "Stay back." He walked past the rocks, "Hey Orochimaru! It's Sasuke, I've got a proposition for you."

"My, my, how long it's been." Orochimaru replied, adding unnecessary emphasize to his letters, giving an almost hissing like sound. Sasuke looked around as the barrier began cracking and falling away. It begins changing into a factory like building, or as Sasuke knew, more like a prison. Sasuke watched as the man walked out from the door, a bunch of unfamiliar men standing around them. Sasuke motioned for the others to enter. The man in front of Sasuke was rather tall, and extremely pale. He had long, waist-length, silky black hair pushed to the right. His eyes were golden-yellow, with snake-like slits in his pupils, having purple markings around his eyes.

"Orochimaru." Sasuke simply said. Orochimaru smiled,

"How I've missed you, young Uchiha." He spoke, surveying the boy as he gracefully walked around the younger Uchiha gently poking at his clothing, pulling at his collar and playfully twirling his hair.

"I need information." Sasuke spoke, ignoring the harassment for the sake of his cooperation.

"For you? Anything." He hissed, raising his hands defensively as he caught the boy's not so subtle glare.

"I need information on the Akatsuki's current operations, locations, especially in Konoha. Also, why was there flesh in Obito's bodyguards, how far have you guys progressed?"

"Aiya, I want to help you, my dear, but, you're not making it easy." Orochimaru smiled, slyly rubbing his chin as he walked in front of the Uchiha then turned to face him, "I can only answer one question at a time, and for each question I also expect something in return."

"What do you want?" Sasuke growled, suspiciously squinting his eyes.

"For the first question, I'll take a vial of your blood; for the second question, I'll take a vial of the Hyuuga's blood; and for the final question, I'll answer only if I get a deal." Orochimaru gave an eerie smile as he gently scratched at his cheek

"Why do you want our blood?"

"Hehe, experiments, my dear." Orochimaru said, playfully tapping Sasuke's nose.

"What kind of experiments?" Sasuke glared at the man, his patience running thin.

"Now then, is that also a question?" Orochimaru hissed.

"What about this deal." Sasuke changed the subject.

"I'll answer your question, in exchange, I want immunity."

"Why would that matter, you've never cared before?"

"It's my turn now, isn't it? I want you all to take a nice look around." Everyone listened, cautiously watching the men that surrounded them. "Come." He called over a nearby man. The man listened, "Now then, what do you think this beauty is?" Orochimaru asked, putting an arm around the man and caringly stroking his cheek.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"What species?" Orochimaru asked impatiently.

"He smells like a hunter." Itachi spoke. Orochimaru smiled in excitement.

"And you, my dear, are wrong." Orochimaru replied, the man's face shifting and hardening. "A vampire." Orochimaru smiled, pushing the man away. "That's our experimentation, intermingling the species, mixing, and transcending! Hehe." Orochimaru snickered as he threw his arms in the air.

"I know that." Sasuke growled. Orochimaru frowned slightly at the man and then shook his head no.

"You have no clue, my dear Uchiha. My experiments are testing the genes that make a species what it is, a human, a hunter, a vampire, and morphing them so no one person is subjected to a single species. Why can't a turned ever turn back, why can they only change once, why can they not shift again? That is what I'm trying to answer." Orochimaru hissed.

"And our blood?" Sasuke asked.

"I need pure blood in order to continue my experiments, but it's too dangerous to face one directly and Obito is too untrusting, with both the blood of a Hyuuga and an Uchiha I could reach a new stage in my experiments."

"What does Obito have to do with all this, what's his role?"

"Now that, I can't tell you, why would someone like him be so interested? I don't know."

"What about the Hokage heir, how is he involved?" Sasuke asked.

"That, again, I don't know. I simply know that he has a goal, and will do whatever it takes to accomplish it."

"Where are the Akatsuki now?" Sasuke asked, annoyed.

"Ah, ah, I've answered as much as I'm willing without payment, the blood."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Sasuke growled in annoyance, showing his arm. Hinata walked up to Sasuke, showing her arm as well.

"Kabuto, if you'll do the honors." Orochimaru smiled as his assistant walked up. Kabuto looked rather young, he had dark brown eyes and gray hair, pulled back into a ponytail and he wore large, round glasses. "Also, take some of the Uzumaki's as well, we don't need it but you never know." Orochimaru smiled at them, flaunting his superiority, he knew well that the only reason the boy was there was because he was desperate and that power sent jolts of electricity through him.

Kabuto listened walking over to the Uchiha and stabbing the needle into his arm, then using a separate one he took Hinata's and finally Kyuubi's, returning to Orochimaru. Orochimaru grabbed one of the vial, smiling as he popped it open. "Ah, the Uzumaki blood, so pure." He smiled as he smelled the blood.

"What do you mean? Pure?" Sasuke questioned.

Orochimaru's smile grew, "You finally asked the right question. Let me ask you, what do you, Sasuke, have in common with your brother?"

"Their renown and age among the vampire species." Kyuubi commented.

"Not just vampires. Besides the father of all, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, and those whom Sasuke and Itachi have known in their lives, they're both the oldest known existences in the world that everyone knows. Before Hashirama and the Hunter's association even before their grandparents. Even amongst the hunter's species, no one surpasses them in time."

"There were some prominent generals and fighters but we didn't especially try to remember the names of our enemies." Itachi followed.

"Have you ever heard of Kurama?" Orochimaru asked.

"Who?" Sasuke questioned.

Orochimaru smiled, "The Uzumaki, excelled in sealing, they have amazing healing rates and stamina, longevity and strong life force, most of them have strong chakra reserves with abilities otherwise unseen. After the annihilation of the Uzumaki clan, following a civil war, Obito was able to get ahold of the Uzumaki archives and learned why they were as they were. Long before even the Uchiha brothers were born, a man named Kurama was born to the Uzumaki direct line. He excelled at everything, before, his clan was strong, but not to the level it one day reached. Kurama became obsessed with Hagaromo and the beginning of the species, his research taught him of a power. Kurama devoted himself to learning more and he never stopped, one day that knowledge became power as the lines connected and he brought the power of Hagaromo back to existence. People feared him, feared him so much they killed him and ripped away his power. It was divided by nine and thrown into artifacts around the world, the last piece being given to his child and thus passing through the generations. The red power that can be awakened by every Uzumaki however, only mastered, by Kurama's direct descendants. Naruko had this power, but the words to fully awaken and control it are long gone and the powers have undoubtedly diminished with time. However if reawakened, with all the pieces brought together, alongside the Uzumaki natural born skill, you could probably be as strong as Sasuke or Itachi. However, were you to reach Kurama's level of understanding, hold the knowledge that Obito stole, you would be unstoppable."

"And Obito wants that power?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yes."

"Why? What does it have to do with mixing species?"

"Not a clue, nothing, as far as I know. The main point of the power is to transcend physical and mental boundaries. It's the same as the Sharingan or Byakugan but for hunters." Orochimaru shrugged.

"Where are they?" Sasuke asked.

Orochimaru feigned insult, "Sasuke Uchiha, are you asking me to sell out my best client?"

"I don't have time for this. Where the hell are they?" Sasuke threatened.

"Oh my, how scary, the dead Uchiha has lost his temper." Orochimaru smiled.

"We need you, Orochimaru, but your precious little experiments are expendable." Sasuke growled. Sasuke turned to the others, who, taking the hint, prepared to attack Orochimaru's men.

"Whoa, whoa! We don't need a fight." Orochimaru said, sighing, "You win. It doesn't matter though because I don't know where they are. However, Obito wants another shipment of turned hunters, the meeting place is set and the time is set. However, Obito won't be the one picking them up."

"What are you insinuating?" Neji questioned.

"Well, you can follow them back to their hideout and hope you can get into the barrier or you can mix yourselves in with my pets and sneak through." Orochimaru smiled.

"Why would you help us to that extent? What exactly did you mean by immunity?" Sasuke questioned.

"Well, of course, I don't want Obito knowing I helped you and, also, I don't particularly mind having both the Uchiha and the Hunter's Association in my debt. So, do we have a deal?" Orochimaru asked, raising his hand to the boy.

"I hope your greed crushes you." Sasuke simply said, but shook his hand in agreement.

* * *

Yeah, fav, follow, review. I hope you enjoyed this chapter ~


	21. Chapter 20

Hey everyone /'~'/ So not much to say, just a quick thing, I might not be updating as often as I have been because I'm gonna be working on my next story since everything for this one is mostly set in stone.

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_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"So the plan is to pretend to be part of Orochimaru's shipment. We'll get an easy way in, then Sasuke and Neji should be able to find Naruto. We find him and fight our way out." Kyuubi explained as he stood away from the group. They were all in a large square room, it was gray with large cables and wires running along the ceiling. The other's all sat at a long table in the middle of the room, the entire room surrounded by miscellaneous machines.

"And fight your way out?" Tsunade asked through the phone.

"If you have a better idea then please share. I don't like it either, it's too dangerous, too unpredictable, but we don't have much of a choice. Obito shouldn't see us, and we can restrain our powers. As long as we cover our faces and don't stand out it should be fine. Once we're inside we'll split off from the initial group. Hopefully, by using Neji and Sasuke's eyes we can avoid any encounters, get to Naruto quick and be gone long before anyone notices." Kyuubi explained, using hand movements to emphasize the actions despite Tsunade being unable to see his hands.

"Okay, and on the off chance that it even works, what after? Obito will go after Naruto again."

"And we'll deal with it then." Kyuubi sighed, irritated. "Sasuke thinks maybe they should leave town and hide out but for now we have nothing in stone. Itachi and Sasuke are batting ideas back and forth but so far that seems to be the only plausible one until we figure this all out. Even if we get a chance to kill Obito there are still other Akatsuki members and we're not sure how far they're willing to go for this final plan."

"Do it then, but be careful."

"We know." Kyuubi nodded into the phone.

"The trade will go down in two days. The shipment is already being brought in by some subordinates, they'll lead the group in alongside whoever Obito sends to collect. Once inside they'll collect on my part of the trade and leave." Orochimaru explained as he sat at the far end of the table.

"Who'll be guiding and who'll be collecting?" Sasuke questioned, the other's rather lost to the entire charade.

"The sound four will be guiding, I don't know whose collecting." Sauske nodded in understanding.

"Okay, so me, Kyuubi and Sasuke will all be at the back of the group. We'll be restrained by one of your men, however he'll use his abilities to release us at the appropriate time so we can retreat into the hideout. By the time we escape don't you think someone would've sensed us?" Neji asked, leaning against the table.

"It'll be fine by then, me and Hinata will back you up once you've left and help you escape to Konoha with Naruto. Once we reach Konoha we'll talk with Tsunade about our next move, whenever we figure out what that is." Itachi continued, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair.

"Once the sound four arrive I'll be leaving for another hideout, I have no plans of staying in case my helping you is exposed. The sound four will also not help you in escaping." Orochimaru spoke. Everyone nodded in understanding.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"The Uchiha have several bases around the world, just for this type of situation. Most of them are sealed off from any threat not human, and secluded enough that Naruto can be properly trained or simply just give him the chance to relax." Sasuke said in irritation as he paced around the room growing increasingly irritated at the woman's stubbornness.

"No, I'm not comfortable just handing Naruto over to you." Tsuande yelled as she jumped from her chair. Sasuke ran his hand through his hair, slumping into a nearby chair no longer willing to fight the woman.

"Okay, calm down, this is the best solution, Tsunade. Even you have to understand that Naruto can't be brought back here." Kyuubi baaed as he set a comforting hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Yes, Obito will most likely be coming after you guys and we don't know enough about him." Tsunade sighed, taking a seat. She turned in her chair, staring out the window and giving an exasperated sigh, "Two conditions, Kakashi will go with you on your little coup and he'll go with you guys to the Uchiha hideout. You also have to contact me as soon as you reach safety and continue to keep me updated on both Naruto's condition and his location. I'm don't trust you nearly enough without my own inside man, too many questionable characters are involved in this entire charade." Tsunade spat.

"That should be fine." Itachi said, looking at Sasuke,

"Hn." He stubbornly huffed.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto dodged, fiercely pushing his palm into Hidan's chest. "Che." Hidan huffed in irritation, bringing his fist down to strike the boys back. Naruto quickly moved out of the way, back handing Hidan and forcing him to his knees. Naruto spun in the air, aiming for the back of Hidan's neck. Hidan caught Naruto's foot, tossing him at the floor. Naruto gracefully slid across the arena's dirt floor and quickly bounced back, running at Hidan.

Naruto's clothes were ripped covered with dried blood, his blonde hair now turned brown from it. The visible wounds were mostly white as infections began setting in.

"We're so close." Obito pouted.

"Seems so." Zetsu replied, "The end is almost near. Will you stay to watch the outcome?"

"Yes." Obito shook his head, "I want to stay till the end, and once it's finished I'll finally be able to die and join my mate in the afterlife."

"And the Akatsuki? Everything you've built up."

"I've never cared for it." Obito smiled. "The only ones who know the final plan are me and you, for the other's it's just a means to kill and torture. Once my goal is complete I don't care what the other's choose to do."

"And the Sasuke situation?"

Obito shook his head, "It'll take time but everyone will soon be affected, Sasuke had made his choice. I was simply a kid at his side despite my previous belief that he was my brother. Kyuubi and Sasuke, the life I led with them, them all, was just a childhood whim, I'm ready for it all to end. What about you?"

"I don't think that far ahead."

Obito smiled, "What a blatant lie."

Zetsu smiled slightly, "I'll disappear."

"To?"

"Wherever, of course there's no affirmation I won't be dead by the time we reach the final stage. Everyone will be affected."

"It'll be chaotic at first, death will be rampant but once natural selection takes place this will finally be a world for Mother Nature alone." Obito smiled, leaning his head against the wall.

"As it should be." Zetsu smiled, again disappearing into the wall as Obito childishly mimicked his words.

"Hidan! I'm bored, spice it up!" Obito called from his spectator seat.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"I really should go in your place, Sasuke." Itachi spoke, "You just got out of the hospital."

"I'm find, Itachi." Sasuke said as the two sat in the Uchiha mansion living room, embracing their first moment of peace in a while.

"What do you hope to accomplish, Sasuke? Do you wanna save Naruto, get revenge, or what?"

"I think it should be obvious." Sasuke hissed.

"Well, the end location is the same I guess. Still, when Naruto returns he might not be the same person. What if he isn't?" Itachi said, sitting across from his brother.

"Why does it concern you?"

"What do you think of Naruto? More than Tsunade or Iruka you're devoting yourself to finding Naruto."

Sasuke glared at his brother, really not wanting to have, 'the talk', with him. "Hn."

"Are you in love with him? Is it because he's Naruko's brother, they're alike."

"Like it matters."

"Then why go so far?"

"It's none of your business."

"Please?"

"Hn. You just love sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"For you? Definitely."

Sasuke closed his eyes, slumping into submission, "I'm desperate, and I'm terrified. We need to find Naruto, I won't fail this time, this time I will protect what's important to me."

"So he is important?"

"Do you want me to say it that bad? Just put myself out there?"

"How important?"

"I'm about to punch you."

Itachi smiled, thumping his younger brother's head, "I'll stop teasing you. Come on, the others have all gone to resupply and eat, we should get some blood too."

"Hn." Sasuke ran a hand through his hair but forced himself to his feet. "Then back to Orochimaru's hideout."

Itachi smiled pitifully at his younger brother, "It's almost over."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke looked around at the members of the Sound Four. The head of the four was known by the name Ukon. He suffered from a multiple-personality disorder, his other personality, his twin-brother, was named Sakon. His ability was odd because it created a separate body for his secondary personality, literally making it seem as though there were two people in one body. Both Sakon and Ukon had straight, dark grey hair with long bangs that covered each different eye, their bangs were on opposite sides, Ukon's being on the left and Sakon's on the right whenever he took form.

Tayuya was the only girl out of the four. Her voice was her weapon. Whenever she sang she was able to attack others by simply changing the tone of her voice. She had long, untamed, dark pink hair and she wore a black hat with bandaged sides.

Jirōbō was the strongest physically but the weakest overall. He was only able to control earth, one of the basic blood-line abilities. He was the largest of the four with orange eyes and orange hair, his hair was in three tuffs. Two on each side of his head, reaching back past his ear and one on top of his hair coming up like a Mohawk.

Finally was Kidōmaru. He had the ability to create and wield an almost spider-web like string. It was extremely durable. He was dark-skinned with black eyes and black hair, his hair pulled back into a shaggy ponytail.

They were all the prodigies among Orochimaru's experiments.

"So you guys will all be locked up with my webs, at the back of the group." Kidōmaru informed them as the group sat in Orochimaru's hideout.

"Sasuke and I will be trying to sense Naruto, once we do we'll pull at the string pushing it in the direction in which we need to go." Neji explained.

"Then I'll distract whoever's leading us while Kidōmaru retracts the strings so you guys can find him." Ukon followed in understanding.

"And if you're caught?" Tayuya asked.

"It's likely and if that happens then we'll have to fight our way out. Itachi and Hinata will be nearby so we won't be completely vulnerable." Kyuubi followed.

"We won't be able to bring anything, we need to travel light." Kakashi followed,

"Okay, then it's settled." Sasuke nodded. "We leave tomorrow."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"I finally got to spend some time with Gaara too." Neji pouted as everyone had returned to Orochimaru's hideout.

"I don't really wanna leave Iruka either, I mean with Naruto gone he's a mess. Still, if this means we can save him I'm all for it." Kakashi replied.

"Don't leave Sasuke's side, got it? I don't want you to get hurt." Itachi frowned as he hugged Kyuubi.

Kyuubi laughed in his lover's embrace, "I'm not 5 Itachi, don't worry so much."

_Is everyone I know gay? _Sasuke questioned as he watched them all. _I blame you guys._

"Let's get this over with." Hinata sighed as she walked up to Sasuke.

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke replied as he grabbed his sword, swinging it into its case as it lied against his back. He grabbed a cloak, throwing it over his shoulder and pulling the hood over his head. Kyuubi, Neji and Kakashi all doing the same thing.

"Let's go!" Ukon called as the four followed behind him.

"Not a bad shipment, eh?" Jirōbō playfully hit Sasuke's shoulder as they came up on the group of hunter-turned, receiving a glare in return. There was about 20 people set into columns of 4. Sasuke, Kakashi, Neji and Kyuubi got in behind the others as webs began sneaking across their arms and along their feet entrapping their wrists and their ankles.

"This is the meeting place." Kidōmaru said, surveying his string to make sure there were no openings.

"How do we know the others won't say anything?" Sasuke asked motioning towards the slaves.

"Don't worry about them, they're bred to be puppets. That's the highlight of Orochimaru's experiments." Ukon said as he flicked one of the slaves in the head.

"Then what about you guys?" Kyuubi glared at Ukon.

"Of course we're the same." Tayuya smiled in response.

"Someone's coming." Sasuke said. The members of the sound four nodded, each of them going to the corners surrounding the group of men. Sasuke, Kyuubi, Neji and Kakashi all bowed their heads in order to hide themselves. After a single moment Kakazu appeared.

"Good day." Ukon smiled. Kakazu simply glared at him.

"Is this it?"

"Lord Orochimaru said if Obito wants more Obito will also have to compromise." Ukon spoke.

"I see." Kakazu nodded as he began walking a slow circle around the group.

"Why do you need so many all of a sudden?" Jirōbō questioned. Kakazu looked at him for a second,

"Meh, we just need to increase security for a while." Kakazu replied, he gave a final glance and sighed, "Okay, looks good, let's go." Kakazu said as he walked ahead of the group, leading them away.

"So why didn't we meet at the hideout, why'd we meet out here?" Ukon asked.

"I thought you guys didn't ask questions." Kakazu said in irritation.

"Just trying to make conversation." Ukon frowned.

Kakazu gave an exasperated sigh, "We couldn't chance just giving our location out needlessly, we have too many enemies, too many people coming after us." Kakazu stopped in front of the mountain, setting his hand on a nearby rock he pushed it into the mountain. The space in front of Kakazu vibrated as the opening was revealed and he walked through it. The slaves shifted into two columns and entered the compound side-by-side. Sasuke's eyes turned red as Neji's pupils became more distinct the veins around his temple bulging as Neji searched the hideout and Sasuke tried to sense Naruto. Sasuke momentarily stumbled when he sensed Obito but it only took him a second to decide Naruto was more important. He stopped as he sensed the blonde's weakened power, his head thumping in anxiety as he gently pulled the string to the right, the side Naruto was on.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto looked up at the cell ceiling, slightly shifting as he felt a calm and warm sensation washing over him. He sensed something and it was so strange. He felt his heart violently pound as he grabbed the cell door, somehow he was excited, happy. For some reason he felt like his heart was about to burst and he didn't quite know why. He breathed a heavy sigh trying to calm himself down as he slumped back against the cell.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Ukon stopped the slaves as they reached an opening leading deeper into the hideout. He moved ahead, standing in front of Kakazu. "What is it?" Kakazu growled.

"How much farther until we get paid?" Ukon questioned as Kidomaru walked up to Sasuke, setting his hand on the man's back as the strings around them began retreating.

"Once the objects are properly secured and checked you'll get your money." Kakazu growled as Sasuke, Kyuubi, Neji and Kakashi escaped into the opening. Kakazu pushed past Ukon as the group continued on their way.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Neji, do you see Naruto?" Sasuke questioned as they ran through the narrow corridor.

"Yeah."

"What's the most convenient path? With the least amount of people."

"Uhm, take a left up here." Neji spoke.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded as he turned, the other's following close behind. _We're close, we're right here, please be okay, please be okay, Naruto. _Sasuke was pulled from his thoughts as Neji violently threw him back, putting a hand on the Uchiha's mouth as the four sat in silence for a few minutes. Neji breathed a sigh of relief as he let go of Sasuke. Sasuke looked at the open corridor he had run into now sensing the man as he walked away. Sasuke nodded to the others as they once again ran through the corridors, this time paying close attention to Neji's words. Left, right, left, left again, just keep going.

"What do we do?" Neji questioned as a man stood in the corridor, blocking them from the next turn.

"Is there another way around?" Kyuubi asked.

"Yeah." Neji replied.

"Forget it, it'll take away too much time." Sasuke said, jumping out and quickly cutting the man's throat, killing him long before he could even utter a sound. "With the slaves here it means that the numbers are unstable, so taking out one or two people shouldn't alarm anyone. Come on, let's continue." The other's nodded as they once again continued their course.

"Something's wrong. There's not enough resistance." Kakashi spoke as they ran,

"You're right." Neji agreed.

"Whoa, whoa, stop." Kyuubi said as he slowed down.

"What?" Sasuke followed.

"Do you hear that?" Kyuubi asked.

"It sounds like gears." Sasuke commented, looking around the base, looking up and seeing as a wall was coming down on them. "What the?" Sauske stopped, grabbing Kyuubi and pulling him back as the wall cut off the corridor.

"Ouch!" Kyuubi pouted as he swatted away Sasuke's hand on his shoulder, more hurt by his grip than falling.

"You okay?!" Neji called. Sasuke looked up, Neji and Kakashi were on the other side.

"Yeah! What now?" Sasuke called back.

"It should be easy enough for us to get around, can you find your way, Sasuke?" Neji questioned.

"Yeah," Sasuke called back, pulling Kyuubi to his feet as he scaled the wall.

"Okay, you guys go ahead we'll meet up." Neji called then turned to face the figure behind him.

"Well, seems like we're in trouble." Kakashi said as he and Neji turned to face Hidan. The man gave a twisted grin, cracking his fingers.

"Finally, some good prey."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"I am so disappointed right now." Kyuubi said, running a hand through his head. "Seriously, like what's with the cliché trap, we taught him better." Sasuke stifled a laugh at Kyuubi's comment.

"I'm pretty sure that's the least of our concerns." Sasuke replied.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. They're fine and so is Naruto, we'll find him." Kyuubi smiled as they ran

"Still, I'm curious why he had that set up." Sasuke replied.

"It doesn't matter, we either tripped a trap or we've been found. In either case they know we're here."

"He probably has some kind of defense mechanism, if something goes wrong all they have to do is divide the hideout into two so they built the walls. If it was triggered it could also be used to cut someone off if you're being chased, there's probably similar set ups around the hideout. Still, why was it triggered?"

"We really need to hurry, Sasuke." Kyuubi spoke.

"I know." Sasuke nodded as they increased their pace.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"What is this?" Kyuubi asked as they ran into an arena type set-up.

"I don't know. Naruto's scent is strong." Sasuke said, "Blood." He whispered to himself as he grabbed a handful of sand, now dyed red. He clenched his fist around the sand in anger, throwing it aside, "Let's go."

"Too late." Kyuubi said as the arena doors closed.

"Not bad." The two turned as Kakazu walked through the only open door, which shut behind him. He smiled, "Did you really believe two purebloods could break into here without being found?"

"Here I thought it worked." Kyuubi mumbled sarcastically.

"I'll admit we never guessed Orochimaru would betray us and help you, sadly enough the four traitors got away but as soon as you released your power Obito could tell. It took some time for orders to be relayed which is why you've gotten so far, but not anymore." Kakazu threw his coat off revealing his heavily stitched arms, legs and torso.

"Well we didn't think it would be easy." Sasuke said, preparing to fight.

"Leave it, break down the gate and go after Naruto." Kyuubi demanded, standing in front of Sasuke.

"Like hell, I'm not leaving you, Itachi would kill me."

"Sasuke! Itachi has no say, just trust me and go!" Sasuke slightly flinched, knowing full well Kyuubi was serious due to his strained voice.

"After the fight stay here unless you can find me or the others."

"Got it, now hurry up." Sasuke nodded and ran to the gate quickly breaking it down and leaving.

"Are you done?" Kakazu asked.

"Yes, thank you for waiting." Kyuubi replied as he prepared to fight, _I know well that they're just afraid of losing me but honestly, their love is way too dark, good luck, Naruto. _

"Now, shall we?" Kakazu asked.

"Gladly." Kyuubi nodded in turn.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as he entered the dungeon, running at the cell. The boy lying on the ground seemingly unresponsive. "I gotta get this open." Sasuke commented as he went to grab the cage door, quickly dodging as a force came up behind him.

"You were slower than I expected, dear brother."

"Obito." Sasuke hissed as he faced the man.

"If only I'd killed you then." Obito licked his lips as he held his arms out to the side.

"Yeah, you probably should have." Sasuke agreed charging forward.

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Fav, follow, review, much obliged v.v


	22. Chapter 21

Hello~ Lovely people, here's the newest chapter. Yay!

Well I have nothing to report this week ^~^ Enjoy the story my dearies

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_~/Kakashi P.O.V/~_

Kakashi bounced from the wall towards the man, lightning shooting from his hand as he aimed for the man's back. Hidan grabbed Neji's wrist, Neji aiming for Hidan's head, and pushed him back, Hidan side-stepping him in order to avoid Kakashi. Kakashi caught himself, letting the lightning on his hand die out as Neji caught him, quickly helping him to his feet before the two collided. Hidan smiled at them cracking his fingers. Neji moved first, quicker than the eye could see he ran forward, Hidan caught Neji's neck, throwing him aside as Kakashi came up directly behind Neji, aiming to grab Hidan's head as his entire hand was engulfed in lightning. Faster than Kakashi could see his hand was pushed aside and shot into the wall.

_What did he do? _Kakashi thought as he watched Hidan, he barely felt any resistance, Hidan simply raised his hand.

"Is this the best, Konoha's best, can do?" Neji taunted, circling Hidan carefully.

Kakashi smirked, _Neji's certainly taking this easy._ Kakashi forcefully pulled his hand from the wall and faced the two.

_~/Kyuubi P.O.V/~_

Kyuubi's hands flared red as he faced down Kakazu, shrugging off his cloak, Kakazu curiously raised his eyebrow when he saw the power but ignored it overall. Kyuubi ran at Kakazu, punching him in the stomach, Kakazu grabbed his wrist, but Kyuubi pulled it away before Kakazu could act and violently threw his other hand forward. Kakazu quickly dodged, digging his fingers into Kyuubi's side and violently pushing him back. Kyuubi grunted in pain as he was forced back, Kakazu slamming his hand into Kyuubi's chest. Pulling his hand back he realized that Kyuubi's chest was covered in red power, protecting Kyuubi from the attack. The red slowly dispersed as Kyuubi's knee became covered with red and he dug his knee into Kakazu's genitals. Kakazu gave a breathless gasp as he slowly backed away from Kyuubi, toppled over in pain.

"Sorry, I fight dirty." Kyuubi smiled, cracking his fingers and punching Kakazu.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Obito moved out of Sasuke's way like a bull fighter avoiding the bull.

"Don't get too heated, brother, or you'll get reckless." Obito smiled.

"Hn." Sasuke growled, facing Obito. Sasuke threw the cloak off his back and pulled the sword from its sheathe, the blade vibrating as electricity ran through it. Sasuke's finger's tingled with the lost sensation, sending jolts of excitement through him. It'd been a while since he held a sword; it'd been a while since he fought, and the idea itself make him shake with adrenaline.

Obito frowned, shaking his head in disappointment, "How clumsy, we didn't check for weapons. Hmph." Obito pouted, "Oh well." He pulled a sword from his side, admiring it for a second then violently swiping it through the air, giving a small gentle smile, "I remember when you first trained me to use a sword. I could never beat you." His smile became twisted as he finished, licking the dull edge of the blade as he watched Sasuke, "Oh, how times have changed." He hissed. He flipped the sword, facing it down as he ran at Sasuke. Sasuke brought his sword up catching Obito's blade.

"That's how you hold a kunai, my lessons must not have stuck." Sasuke growled throwing Obito back as Obito brought his blade up. Sasuke quickly turned his sword bringing it down on Obito, lightning shooting forward. Obito rolled out of the way, barely missing the lightning as he smiled at Sasuke, kneeling on the ground.

"It's my style, you see." Obito replied, running at Sasuke and violently slashing at his face. Sasuke caught the blade, a heavy _rip_ going through the dungeon as the two swords clashed. Obito jumped back as Sasuke followed him, pushing forward with the blade. Obito slashed the sword away as he was pushed into the corner. Sasuke brought the sword to Obito's right side, the wall to his left and behind him, giving him no chance to escape. He caught the blade with his sword, using both hands in order to hold Sasuke's position and keep the blade away from him.

Sasuke's glare hardened as he harshly pushed down on the blade, electricity shooting from it as Obito struggled to protect himself.

_~/Neji P.O.V/~_

"Left!" Neji yelled at Kakashi as Neji was thrown into the wall. Kakashi dodged Hidan's fist, rolling to the right, "I said left, you idiot!" Neji yelled, falling from the wall and landing next to Kakashi.

"Well sorry." Kakashi growled, running forward, narrowly avoiding Hidan's arm by ducking under it and running to the left side of the narrow hallway. Hidan followed Kakashi, aiming a strong kick at the man's chest. The kick connected, throwing Kakashi back with a small gasp, he just barely caught the foot after it connected with his chest. He threw Hidan's leg back, throwing him into Neji. Neji wrapped his arm around the man's neck, Hidan grabbed Neji's arm pulling it away from his neck as he struggled to keep the Hyuuga from breaking his neck. Hidan kicked his foot back, throwing Neji off his footing and flinging him over his shoulder and onto Kakashi, who was aiming to attack Hidan's heart.

Hidan raised his foot, going to stomp on Neji's head as the two men were on top of each other, dazed with pain. Kakashi was under Neji, face up as Neji was face down on him. Kakashi reached his hand up, catching Hidan's foot and snapping it, breaking the man's ankle and pushing Neji of off himself. Kakashi jumped to his feet as Hidan growled in pain and fell on the opposite wall. Kakashi shot forward, punching his lightning coated fist into Hidan's chest. Kakashi's eyes grew in surprise as his hand slid over Hidan's chest like butter in a hot pan, his hand connecting with the wall. Hidan took advantage of Kakashi's surprise, kicking the man in the chest and throwing him back. Kakashi stumbled back, falling into Neji. Neji grabbed Kakashi's shoulders, spinning him out of the way while Neji ran at Hidan, jumping in the air and kicking the man in his face. Hidan smiled at Neji, shooting forward and moving to punch him. Neji blocked Hidan's punch and jumped back, smiling.

"I got it." Neji smiled, catching Hidan off guard.

"You got what?" Kakashi questioned, standing next to the pureblood.

"His power. Somehow he deflects all bloodline ability power, no matter what, but he can't deflect hand-to-hand attacks."

Hidan smiled, nodding, "You're right, that's why when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, no one is better."

"Kid, you're 10,000 years too early to think you can beat me in hand-to-hand." Neji said as his facial features sharpened and his eyes shifted. He disappeared in a flash, faster than either could track. He reappeared next to Hidan, and moving faster than either could tell he slammed his fist into Hidan's face, throwing the boy down the hall.

Kakashi cursed, jumping back as he watched Neji. Neji just shrugged,

"What? My clan's bloodline ability is our ability to excel at hand-to-hand combat."

"Really?" Kakashi questioned.

Neji just shrugged, the two turning as they heard Hidan loudly grunt, he looked at the two, smiling and running his hand through the heavy amount of blood dripping down the side of his head. He looked at his blood covered hand and laughed, "It's been a long time since I've seen my own blood." He yelled in excitement, "Come!" He screamed as his own facial features sharpened.

"How good are you at hand-to-hand?" Neji asked, looking at Kakashi.

"Let's see." Kakashi replied as his facial features sharpened.

_~/Kyuubi P.O.V/~_

Kakazu spit out a mouthful of blood as he dug his hands in the dirt, kicking his feet through the air and hitting Kyuubi's arm. Kyuubi jumped back, avoiding the full attack then kicking Kakazu's side as the man went to regain his footing, struggling against the sand's instability. Kakazu grabbed Kyuubi's foot before it hit him, allowing himself to fall as he pulled Kyuubi with him. Kyuubi groaned as his back made contact with the ground, Kakazu jumping to his feet. Kyuubi growled in irritation, grabbing a handful of sand and throwing it into Kakazu's eyes. The man groaned, coughing away the sand as he stumbled back, Kyuubi jumped to his feet and punched Kakazu in his stomach, then in his face and grabbed the man by his neck, holding his neck under armpit, and moved to snap it. Kakazu's face sharpened as his teeth grew out and he bit into Kyuubi's side. Kyuubi hissed at the sensation, throwing Kakazu onto his back.

"What the hell?" Kyuubi questioned as a blue mask appeared on Kakazu's back, it began pulling away from his back. Finally the blue mask ripped from Kakazu's back, black ash spilling from Kakazu's back. Kakazu gave a sly laugh as the blue mask took the form of a demonic, beaked animal as it stood on two legs.

"My ability." Kakazu replied as he got on his feet.

"Which is?" Kyuubi pushed. Kakazu smiled,

"I have 5 bodies, my own then four separate bodies in my back. Now these four bodies can only be awoken with the blood of another." Kyuubi looked at the bite mark on his side, then at Kakazu. "Yup." The blue masked monster ran at Kyuubi, slamming its hand down on top of him. Kyuubi jumped back as the sand was thrown up, creating an eerie dust. The blue-masked monster ran forward, swinging at Kyuubi, Kyuubi dodged as he watched the large monster, which towered over him. He ran under the monster's arm, running along the arena as it persistently chased him. He looked around, looking for Kakazu. Kakazu jumped from the spectators seats, on top of Kyuubi.

Kyuubi cursed as he rolled out of the way, backing away as his eyes moved from the monster to Kakazu. The monster moved first, jumping to tackle him. Kyuubi's legs became covered with red power as he jumped, landing on the monster's head, he ran across its back as it was pushed onto the floor. Kakazu came from the side, grabbing Kyuubi's shoulder and he pulled Kyuubi towards him. Kyuubi grabbed Kakazu's neck as Kakazu moved to bite Kyuubi's neck. Kyuubi threw Kakazu by his neck, spinning him away. Kakazu grabbed Kyuubi's arm as he was thrown aside and bit into it. Kyuubi screamed in pain, pushing his arm forward, causing Kakazu to gag and release his arm.

Kakazu licked at the blood on his lips as a second mask appeared on his back, this one was red, stretching from his back it broke from his skin as ash spilled from the new found hole, and took the shape of a demonic tiger. Kyuubi groaned in concern as the second mask took shape, his eyes growing big as he jumped to the side, the blue mask jumping at him, the force of the blue-masked creature landing threw Kyuubi across the arena. He coughed violently, moving to his feet, two large monsters in front of him as Kakazu stood between them.

_If I can get rid of the head, then it should get rid of them too. _Kyuubi sighed, running at Kakazu, the two monster's moving to protect him, blocking off Kyuubi. Kyuubi's feet became red with power as he effortlessly ran around the monsters, aiming directly for Kakazu. The red-masked creature moved, aiming for Kyuubi's neck. Kyuubi dodged again, moving to kick the red-masked creature, his attack seemingly having no effect. He gave a deep breath, growing tired. He looked at the two monsters as they surrounded him. He pouted as an idea came to his head, it wasn't necessarily a good one. He ran in between the two monsters, then stopped, they both turned to face him as he anxiously waited for them to attack. At the last minute he jumped forward, causing the two monsters to attack once another. Kyuubi ran at Kakazu, punching him in the jugular, Kakazu leaned back, kneeing Kyuubi in his stomach. Kyuubi's hands turned red as he brought his fist up quicker than Kakazu could see, running his hand through the man's chest.

Kakazu coughed slightly, blood spilling from his mouth. Kyuubi's body was overcome with relief, he made it. He stopped as a dark blue mask came from Kakazu's back, the mask made a weak attempt to pull from the skin but cracked before it could. Kyuubi felt a strong pain in his shoulder, feeling the warm liquid dripping down his arm. A yellow mask appeared on Kakazu's back, pulling away from the skin, ash poured from his back as the creature took the form of a large four-legged body with thin wings. Kakazu removed himself from Kyuubi's hands, the boy obviously surprised. Kyuubi looked around, looking at Kakazu and the three monsters.

His final thought was, _I'm dead._

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Obito gave an irritated, "Tch." He looked at Sasuke, then the blade. Irritation took him as his body began distorting, spiraling into himself and then he was gone. Sasuke stared forward, confused, turning when he sensed Obito behind him, just barely stopping Obito's ready sword.

"What the hell?" Sasuke questioned, flinging Obito's sword form his hand. Obito smiled, raising his hands in surrender,

"Ah, you're still better at me when it comes to swordsmanship, I was never any good." Obito frowned.

"What did you do?" Sasuke questioned.

"It's a bloodline ability, apparently a rare one too. Teleportation. It's the same as your never-ending black fire, or Itachi's ability to distort time in an illusion. All my own. Frankly, I didn't want you to know about it, or anyone, not yet, I wanted to wait till I could better use it but you cornered me, you're so scary when you're serious, brother."

"It's the same as Minato." Sasuke whispered in awe.

Obito smiled, "You care so much for the boy, don't you, Sasuke?"

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

_Naruto. That's my name. Who said it? Somehow the name, the sensation feels so familiar. It feels so warm, so familiar. _

"Sasuke."

_Obito, Obito said that. Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke. What is it, what is it? Sasuke. Sasuke. Sauske. Why do I know it, what is it, my heart is so fast, it aches, what is it? Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke._

_~/Neji P.O.V/~_

Neji leaned against his knees, breathing heavily. Kakashi wasn't in a much better state. Neji breathed in a heavy breath, running as he slammed his hand into Hidan's face. Hidan grabbed Neji's shirt, pulling him forward and kneeing him in the leg. Neji fell forward from the pain, Hidan releasing the boy's shirt and grabbing his jaw. Kakashi moved beside them, grabbing Hidan's wrist before he could pull Neji's jaw, Kakashi clenched Hidan's wrist, attempting to crush it in his grasp. Hidan grabbed Kakashi's hair, pulling it down and slamming Kakashi's head into the Akatsuki members arm. Neji grabbed the arm on his jaw as Kakashi released the arm in surprise. Neji twisted the arm around Hidan's back, staring at the man's flesh, he was so hungry. Hidan ran up the wall, allowing his arm to break as he flipped over Neji's head, grabbing the man's neck. Kakahsi grabbed Hidan's hair, pulling him off of Neji and punching him in the face.

"This is getting ridiculous." Kakashi heaved. Neji nodding in agreeance, exhausted. He looked at Kakashi and frowned,

"Hey, Kakashi, on a level of 0 to 100 how much blood do you have in your system."

Kakashi looked Neji over curiously, then shrugged, "I'd say in the 40's, I used my bloodline abilities a lot in the beginning."

"Think you can live on if you're in the 30's or 20's?" Kakashi gave him a curious glance, Hidan taking the extra time to recuperate a bit.

"Are you asking if you can drink from me?" Kakashi asked.

"It's a no, right?" Neji sighed, scratching the back of his head. Kakashi looked at Neji, then at Hidan. Hidan waiting for one of them to make a move.

"I swear Neji, if anyone, and I mean anyone, especially my mate, learns of this then I'm cutting your balls off." Kakashi swore, raising his arm to Neji's mouth. Neji smiled,

"If anyone finds out about this then I'll let you." Neji agreed, digging his teeth into Kakashi's arm.

Hidan charged at the two as he realized what they were doing but it was too late. Neji disappeared in a flash, appearing behind Hidan and ripping his head off. For a second his body was solid as his head gasped for air until it finally turned to ash. Neji licked his lips then gagged, "That was the most disgusting blood I have ever had."

"Well, sorry. What'd you expect from a mated vampire?" Kakashi hissed, petting his bloody arm. "It seems to have powered you up a bit."

"Yes, thank you. Urgh, how can Iruka stand that shit?"

"Shut up, come on, we need to get to the others. Still, I didn't realize you were so good at hand-to-hand combat."

Neji smiled, "Well, technically it's my clan's ability, I was trained by the ancient's of my clan. I've only ever lost to Itachi, we would train together sometimes, but that was him without his bloodline abilities and I've never actually fought Sasuke."

"Hm, well, come on, we should hurry and catch up to the others."

_~/Kyuubi P.O.V/~_

Kyuubi cursed as he ran through the arena, dodging and avoiding each of the monster's attacks as Kakazu sat nearby watching. Kyuubi looked as the three creatures chased him, he couldn't keep running; he was growing tired. He turned, facing them, what could he do? Every time he attacked them it had no effect, he was just hitting ash. He ran, jumping over the yellow-masked creature, grabbing its wing and pulling it to the ground, causing it to crash into the blue-masked creature. He turned as the red-masked tiger pounced at him, his arm flared red as he aimed for the tiger's mask punching into the creature's extended mouth. The creature bit down, Kyuubi flinching as he felt the skin on his arm rip but slowly cracks appeared in the red mask until finally it exploded, the creature crashing into the ground as ash.

The blue-masked creature came up behind Kyuubi, swiping his hand down at Kyuubi. Kyuubi jumped out of the way, could the yellow-masked creature fly? It had wings. Kyuubi looked between the two, the weak points were the masks. Their disadvantage was their size, it gave them the speed of an average human but their strength and durability was monstrous. He knew one thing, aim for their masks. He looked at the remaining two, the blue mask and the yellow, then of course, there was Kakazu but for the most part he was letting the fight progress as it chose.

Kyuubi looked at the two, for all he knew the yellow could fly. He dodged as one swatted at him, the other aiming at the location where Kyuubi retreated to, again he avoided the attack, but instead of jumping away he jumped back at the hand, jumping on the blue-creatures hand and running up it. The blue-creature brought its hand back, trying to shake Kyuubi off. Kyuubi ran up its arm, struggling to hold on, and moved onto its shoulder, the yellow-masked creature moving to hit Kyuubi. Kyuubi jumped over the creature's head, his hand glowing red as he dug it under the blue-mask, ripping it off. The mask flopped to the ground, ash already reforming as Kyuubi fell after it. He jumped to his feet, running as the yellow-masked creature went after him. Kyuubi ran, turning and stepping on the blue-mask before it reformed. One more to go.

Kyuubi turned to the final mask. He felt his fangs aching with thirst. He licked his fangs in comfort, shaking his head in order to concentrate on the final one. It swung at him, slapping its heavy hand down. Kyuubi flipped out of the way. Kakazu was still watching nearby, Kyuubi didn't have the energy to take them both on. Kyuubi ran at Kakazu, he could barely use his bloodline abilities anymore, he was just so exhausted. He ran headfirst in an attempt to tackle Kakazu, Kakazu caught him, not even straining against the boy's attack. Kakazu flipped Kyuubi onto his back, Kyuubi reached up grabbing Kakazu's shirt, biting his leg, and pulling him to the ground as well. Kyuubi watched as the yellow-masked creature neared them, he was so tired, what could he do. He looked around for something to use, the chairs in the spectator's seat were all wood, and they were attached to the floor, he couldn't use them. Then he noticed the gate that Sasuke had broken, it was behind him. He turned tail, stumbling to his feet, running away from Kakazu and the creature and towards the bars, and picking up one of the broken off pieces and retreating into narrow hall. The monster appeared first, moving into the hallway, stopping when its wings caught on the walls. It squirmed slightly, trying to enter the hall but was unable to. Kyuubi smiled, jumping at the creature and jamming the bar behind its mask, yanking the mask off and stabbing it with the bar.

"I really like you." Kakazu spoke from the middle of the arena. Kyuubi felt his head thump in exhaustion as a wave of dizziness took him, he stumbled, struggling to keep his footing.

"Is this your last life?" Kyuubi asked, trying to sound confident.

"Yes."

"Then this will be easy." Kyuubi failed this time as his voice wavered.

Kakazu smiled, "I should've took you seriously, and for that I apologize and I have paid the price for my insolence." Kakazu frowned, "Now then, no more tricks, come." Kakazu said motioning for Kyuubi to walk to him.

"Hah, how fair is this, I've been fighting non-stop while you sat back and saved up your energy."

"I believe it was you who said I don't fight fair."

"I really don't." Kyuubi sighed, scratching his head. "Okay, let's end this." Kyuubi released a heavy sigh, swinging the bar in his hands as he entered the arena. He sighed heavily, swinging the bar at Kakazu. Kakazu dodged, hitting the bar away and jumping at Kyuubi's chest. Kyuubi moved out of the way hitting Kakazu over the head with the bar. Kakazu stumbled forward grabbing the back of Kyuubi's leg and pushing it in, forcing the boy's leg to lock. Kyuubi flipped forward, wildly swinging the bar and hitting an irritated Kakazu in the chest.

"Okay, that thing is really annoying!" Kakazu growled grabbing the bar. Kyuubi flipped the bar, swinging Kakazu down as Kyuubi jumped to his feet. Kakazu went for the bar again, Kyuubi fiercely thrusting it forward forcing Kakazu to lose his grip as the bar ran into his heart. Kakazu stopped for a second, watching Kyuubi then disappearing into ash. Kyuubi gave a deep breath as he dropped the bar, his entire body shaking as exhaustion finally took control of him and he collapsed.

"Kyuubi!" Neji exclaimed as he broke through the bars, him and Kakashi running to the man.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked, sitting next to the exhausted man.

"I'm fine, are you guys okay?" Kyuubi asked looking between the two.

"We're fine. We got stopped but it was nothing." Kakashi shrugged, looking to Neji for conformation.

"You guys got it lucky." Kyuubi growled, groaning in pain.

"It looks like it buddy." Neji laughed. Then looked into the distance as his eyes shifted, "It looks like Sasuke made it to Naruto but he's not alone, Obito's there as well." Neji told the others.

"We should leave them be, this is there fight." Kakashi said.

"No, we can't just leave them." Kyuubi spoke, but he couldn't get up, "I'm sorry, I need a minute."

"Take as many as you need, Kyuubi." Neji smiled, gently pressing the man's forehead. "Sasuke can hold his own. We've done our part."

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto watched as the two men went back and forth. Both had the same coal black hair, the fear-inducting red eyes. _Sasuke. _The name struck Naruto like a chord, but he didn't know why. _I want to help, who? Who should I help? Why should I help? Why should I help Sasuke? _A couch with a man, deep coal eyes that immediately caught his attention. A night in the park; vampire 101. Clashing in the school hallway. A conversation over ramen. A trip to the mall; clothes shopping and an arcade game. Car rides. Day's spent in a backyard.

Naruto clenched his chest, his heart was so, so, fast. Naruto turned, watching the two fight, Obito disappeared reappearing and pushing Sasuke against the cage Sasuke moved to face Obito. "S-Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, Sasuke stopped, facing Naruto. Obito took this moment of weakness, grabbing the sword off of Sasuke's back and stabbing it through Sasuke's stomach.

"Now, will you please die?" Obito growled in irritation.

"Sasuke!" Naruto screamed again, his heart shattering at what he just saw. Crimson red exploded from Naruto's body, throwing the cage's bar's off of its hinges. The power flared in the dungeon as it attacked everything in its way, the walls and the roof began cracking under the immense pressure. Parts of the ceiling began collapsing, as the crack left the dungeon and headed into the halls, debris falling in every direction.

"Finally! It's finally!" Obito screamed in jubilation, laughing hysterically, his excitement put to an end as a large rock fell from the ceiling and landed on Obito. Sasuke looked over, he saw no body nor did he see ashes but whether Obito was dead or not, he was gone. Sasuke brought his attention to Naruto, grabbing the boys arm and pulling him into his chest, hugging him closely. His wound was nothing, _a sword that size could only do damage when aimed at the head or heart, and Obito knew that, so why did he stab me in the stomach? _Sasuke was pulled from his thoughts as Naruto violently dug his nails into Sasuke's arms. Sasuke held him tighter, until he finally settled down, collapsing in Sasuke's grip.

"Sasuke!" Sasuke turned, hearing Neji as he yelled from the other side of a pile of rubble.

"Neji! Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, what about you guys?"

"Naruto and I are fine, I don't know what happened to Obito."

"Everyone's retreating, the entire compound is beginning to collapse."

"Got it, you guys get out of here. I'll find a way out for me and Naruto."

"Are you sure?" Neji called.

"Yeah."

"Be careful!" Kyuubi called.

"You too." Sasuke called back, hearing as they ran off. Sasuke looked at Naruto, who was passed out in his arms, his frown growing as he noticed the state Naruto was in, he was covered in dried blood, his body thick with wounds but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Sasuke gently hugged the boy, "I'm sorry for being late." Sasuke grabbed his cloak, wrapping Naruto with it as he ran through the opening on the other side of the dungeon, running in the direction of forestry he was sensing.

Sasuke came out from the hideout, looking around at the unfamiliar forest he was in. _My phone, my weapon, I don't have anything right now. What a great situation, damn. _

"Mn." Naruto grunted in pain as he slept, Sasuke carrying the boy bridal-style. Sasuke moved along the mountain stopping as he found an empty cave, he entered it, setting Naruto on the floor. As soon as Sasuke let him go, he began thrashing in fear as he slept. Sasuke sat next to him, gently setting his hand on the boy's forehead. Naruto calmed with the contact. Sasuke frowned as he felt the heat radiating from Naruto's forehead, he had a high fever. Sasuke turned as he heard a low hiss, a snake slithering into the dark cave.

Sasuke set his arm out, allowing the snake to slither around his arm, "Are you poisonous?" He questioned. _Well I guess it doesn't matter, the poison won't affect me. _ Sasuke gently stroked the snakes head, _what am I going to do? _"Shit!" Sasuke cursed as the snake dug its teeth into Sasuke's hand. Sasuke stopped as he felt the world slowly beginning to fade in and out, his eyes growing weary as the world around him died away. He slumped against the wall, seeing a human-like figure at the opening of the cave, then seeing darkness.

* * *

Yay! Sasuke and Naruto are together again, oh no, who's this mysterious figure O.O XD

Well fav, follow, review, I love hearing from you guys ~ It makes me really happy!


	23. Chapter 22

So it seems that there was some confusion with the last chapter, hopefully everything's cleared up here. Well I don't have much to say so here we are.

* * *

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

Sasuke groggily opened his eyes, feeling his heart pound as the world came into focus. "Good morning, my dear." Sasuke jumped forward, trying to focus his eyes and find the owner of the voice. He held his head, it was throbbing in pain, "Sorry about that that poison was a little strong, but I had to make sure you were out."

"Why?" Sasuke questioned as Orochimaru laid on a couch parallel to the one he was lying on.

"Cause you probably wouldn't talk to me otherwise."

"Where are we?"

"I don't quite know the name of this place, but honey, you're a good distance from Konoha."

"What do you mean a good distance?"

"You basically left through the back entrance, we're on the other side of the mountain range."

"Why are you here?"

"Yeah, you see, this is another one of my bases. Kabuto was working with the Akatsuki, has been since the beginning, and happened to find you."

"Yeah, and he had a snake, with poison able to knock out a vampire, on hand."

"Yes, actually, what if he was followed? By the time they found you and figured out I had betrayed Obito if Kabuto wasn't out, he would need protection."

"Hn."

"What about Obito?"

"He got crushed under the rubble as far as I could tell. However, I saw no body or ash and he can teleport so I doubt he's dead."

"Seriously, what'd you do? Why'd it collapse?"

"Naruto lost control of his power, once one section was out the rest followed. This is the second time you've helped us, why?" Sasuke asked, leaning on his hand as the pain finally subsided and the nonexistent stars in his mind's eyes stopping doing backflips.

"I'm simply being kind, why is that so odd?" Sasuke glared at Orochimaru receiving a sly smile in return as Orochimaru held his hands up defensively, "Okay, you got me. While I was just lending a helping hand, I'm also expecting something in return."

"That is?"

"I don't quite know yet. Until then, accept my good graces, my dear."

"I know you too well, what do you mean?"

Orochimaru sighed, flopping back on the couch and putting his hands behind his head, "I'll explain later, for now you should probably take care of your little fox."

"My little fox?" Sasuke questioned, then his eyes went big, "What did you do to Naruto?" He hissed, jumping to his feet.

Orochimaru laughed, "That was a beautiful reaction." He smiled at the Uchiha, "Don't worry, Kabuto's taking care of him."

"No, I'm taking him to a human hospital."

Orochimaru turned serious, "Don't worry. Kabuto was a doctor working under the hunters before he was turned. He has the proper knowledge, and if you do choose to take him to a hospital, then there'll be questions and by the time you get him to a hospital we'll have already been able to treat him."

"How bad is it?" Sasuke asked, anxiously biting his cheek in an attempt to hold his worry as he hesitantly sat back down.

"Good boy." Ororchimaru smiled, ignoring the glare he received, "Don't worry, that Uzumaki blood is strong, not to mention he awakened his bloodline ability."

"I don't care what you've done, I don't trust you, no matter the situation you hold no loyalties."

Orochimaru smiled, "I know. Despite that, I'll keep those whom I can use close, I won't do anything to tarnish our relationship, I need you."

Sasuke glared at Orochimaru, looking the man up and down, "Of course you'll tell me when my use runs out."

Orochimaru gave a large smile, "Of course, my dear. Granted, I need reassurance too. I need you, not your little fox."

"In other words, my loyalty in exchange for Naruto's life. Why don't I just rip your throat out?"

"Touchy, touchy, but as it seems, you need me, and even if you didn't, in your prime you probably could rip my throat out and you might even be able to get past all my experiments and guards, and walk out, but even then you're not in your prime and if you walk out you'll have nowhere to go, and a hunter or a human, in Naruto's shape, won't survive long enough for you to figure out your next move. I need your help and in exchange we'll treat and watch over Naruto, and you, plus you owe me two favors, both of which I plan on collecting."

"Fine. So, explain. What am I doing here?"

"Follow me." Orochimaru smiled, standing up and walking from the room. Sasuke curiously following behind as Orochimaru began talking. "Before the coup Kabuto was working with the Akatsuki, he was working with Obito's men, tweaking a few details here and there for him. He was there in order to prepare for the new men coming in, of course, when you initiated your little coup he had to back out. When he did, he stole a bunch of files from them, coming out the same way as you guys in order to meet with me, and then of course, he met you guys." Orochimaru was quiet for a moment, stopping at a nearby door, unlocking it and entering, Sasuke following behind. Sasuke looked around, there was a desk next to the door, with a large bookshelf at the far end. In the middle of the office was a couch on the far side and two arm chairs opposite of it, in the middle was a coffee table, which was covered with boxes of files.

"What's in them?" Sasuke asked, walking over to the box and pulling out a manila folder, flipping through it.

"I don't know, we haven't gone through them yet. We've only just got them."

"I don't get it, why are you putting your neck out like this, you of all people?"

"I'll do anything for the sake of my experiments, to accomplish my goal and change a creature's species. No matter what subset of vampire, or a hunter or human."

"Why is it so important to you?"

"Well, my dear," Orochimaru grabbed a file, slumping onto the couch, "I wanna give people a choice."

Sasuke stifled a laugh, "That's precious, you're not that noble."

Orochimaru smiled, "True, but I'm a scientist; I want to see if I can do it. Maybe I'll sell whatever I find, give people the choice."

"Don't you question the effect that'll have?"

"I don't care. Obito was working by himself, without my knowledge, keeping his findings from me while misusing my experiments." Orochimaru scoffed, "As if he can do it without me, but then, you came along, I'd rather have Konoha and the Uchiha brothers on my side when the tides begin changing. The first favor I'll cash in is your help going through all of this." Sasuke nodded, sitting in one of the armchairs, opposite of Orochimaru,

"Then let's get this over with, Naruto's fine, right?"

"Yes."

"How can I trust you?"

"He's still asleep, and Kabuto's still treating him, it'll be better to leave him alone and let him recover. I'm here, it's not like I can do anything."

"I'm not so sure about Kabuto though."

"Hey, I told you, I wouldn't do anything to tarnish our relationship. I need you, I won't touch him, I promise, my dear." Orochimaru winked.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto gave a deep breath as he jumped up from the bed he sat on. He looked around the room, he lay in a hospital bed, but the room was dark, he was attached to an IV. A nearby tray held a bunch of sharp objects, he looked them over, some were covered in blood. He moved from the bed, pulling the IV drip out as he moved to his feet, it wasn't painful. He felt good. He looked around, wires were exposed and the room was dark, it obviously wasn't a hospital room. He stepped forward, stopping when the door opened,

"You shouldn't move yet, you're still too injured." Kabuto spoke, grabbing Naruto's shoulders and moving to push him back onto the bed. Naruto flinched at the touch as he pushed Kabuto away from him, barely able to see the face in front of him due to the dim lighting, Naruto's pupils turned red as a black foxlike slit appeared in his pupil. He threw Kabuto into the wall, running from the room.

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"What's in that file?" Orochimaru questioned.

"Looks like blood tests." Sasuke said.

"Move on, it's probably just information on some of our experiments." Orochimaru said, reading through his own file.

"That's strange."

"What?"

"These blood tests, it's not just blood tests. It's poison."

"Poison?"

"Give me a second." Sasuke stopped as he read over the file. "He was experimenting on the poison vampires inject to turn others." Sasuke replied.

"Well that's not too strange, we were trying to figure out what in the poison allowed human's to change species, it's extremely hard to extract though, and there's still too much about it we don't know."

Sasuke threw the file in his hand aside, grabbing another one. "Patient records." Sasuke commented, reading through it.

"Let me see that." Orochimaru said, throwing the file in his hands aside and grabbing the one from Sasuke. He read it over, "Files on our experiments, it seems."

"Why were they set aside though, we haven't seen any others."

"You're right." Orochimaru replied, handing Sasuke half of the file. "Look for similarities between them. Let's find out why they were set aside." The two looked up as the heard a large slamming sound. Sasuke looked curiously at Orochimaru, who just shrugged. The two threw their files to the side, running through the door and towards the noise. The two saw a head of blonde hair in front of them. Naruto holding his hands up as he slowly backed away from Kabuto and three other guards. Naruto moved to attack one of the men, Sasuke grabbing the boy's hands from behind. Naruto fiercely pulled away from Sasuke's hands, charging forward towards Kabuto, quickly turning to see who attacked him from behind.

Sasuke stood for a moment, surprised that Naruto was able to push him off. He saw the slits in Naruto's eyes waver as the man looked at him.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto faced Sasuke, memories rushing back to him as he thought about Obito and Sasuke fighting, then, did that mean, he wasn't in the arena anymore? Before Naruto could organize all the rushing memories he was tackled by the three guards.

"Enough." Sasuke hissed at the guards, "Really, dobe, you're injured." Sasuke said, grabbing Naruto's wrists and helping him to his feet. Relief washed over him at the familiar nickname, he jumped forward in relief, hugging Sasuke's neck. Sasuke froze at the contact, after a second he awkwardly returned the hug, gently hugging the boy's waist. Naruto tightened his grip on Sasuke, Sasuke finally allowing himself to become engulfed with the contact, burying his head into the boy's shoulder and tightening his grip on Naruto's waist.

Orochimaru gave a small cough, Sasuke releasing the boy and Naruto hesitantly following, "Kabuto, how's he?"

"Well, he had some really bad injuries at first, but, as you can see, he's healed up pretty fast." Kabuto said.

"Understood, lead them to one of the guest rooms. I'm gonna return to the files." Orochimaru said, shooing them.

Kabuto listened, leading them to the guest room, on the left of the hall, "The next door room is also a guest room so you can just switch between them, but as I know it, you don't sleep much, Sasuke." Kabuto said as he stopped in front of one of the rooms.

Sasuke nodded in appreciation as Kabuto left. The two entered the room, looking around, there wasn't much in the room, just a small twin bed in the corner, pushed against the wall and a small desk and chair next to the door. "Expected as much." Sasuke commented, looking at it.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked, looking around the room.

"Basically, you released your bloodline ability and you lost control, destroying Obito's hideout. When we left, we left through a back entrance and arrived in an unfamiliar place. Orochimaru not only helped us then, but also helped us at Obito's hideout, for now I'm helping him out, we're trying to get Obito. You don't need to worry too much, for now just relax, okay?" Naruto looked at Sasuke, "Naruto, it's probably way too soon, but if there's anything you want to talk about, anything that happened, I'll listen."

Naruto smiled, moving over to the bed, sitting down on it and shrugging, "I'm fine." Sasuke looked at him. He leaned next to the boy, gently petting his legs as he looked over his injuries. Sasuke stood up, grabbing Naruto's arm and looking over it.

"You're really are healing fast, that's good."

"So, what's next then?" Naruto asked.

"I still have to contact the others, and pay Orochimaru back for his help, I gotta do what I can even if it means helping that snake. Until I know the situation back in Konoha I'd prefer to not send you back."

Naruto smiled, shaking his head no, "No, it's fine, I'll help here, I mean I'm here anyway and I had the most recent contact with Obito."

"Think about it for a bit, I don't wanna force you, you just woke up so let's give it some time and figure out the rest later."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"Are you kidding me?" Itachi snapped.

"What do you want me to do? We don't have a car and Naruto's still not in the shape to move, yeah, it would probably take a day or two to get back to Konoha but honestly this is our best chance to get all of the Akatsuki members."

Itachi sighed into the phone, changing the subject, "It seems like most of the hideout collapsed, and it took a little less than a quarter of eastern Konoha with it. It's really not much, and as far as we can tell it's mainly small farms that were impacted. The only real causalities were hunter turned that were in the hideout, otherwise the others are fine. Some parts of the hideout are still intact, mainly what was under the mountain. Right now we're working on stabilizing it, if it collapses, then we'll have a real problem on our hands. We also have a large number of hunters turned and what not running around, they're easy enough to kill, but it's just more unnecessary problems. What happened to Obito?" Itachi asked.

"He's still alive, most likely."

"How'd the hideout even collapse?"

"I don't really know myself. Naruto's power just went out of control and once one section broke everything else just followed." Sasuke spoke, stopping for a second, "How are the others?"

"They're all fine. Though I have a few choice words for you about leaving Kyuubi behind." Itachi growled.

"Kyuubi's a big boy and he can take care of himself."

"Oh, I know he's a big boy." Itachi flirted.

"Not the time." Sasuke spoke.

Itachi laughed into the phone, "Okay, so what now?"

"I don't have a choice, I'm staying and seeing what I can learn."

"Be careful, I really don't trust Orochimaru, what are his motives?"

"The only thing I know for sure is if it's in his benefit he'll be our strongest ally."

"I'm just worried, okay? Be careful, Sasuke."

"More than anything, I'm worried about Naruto, he's too calm, too collected, and after everything."

"Well, how are his outwardly injuries?"

"Mostly gone, I'm not surprised, Kyuubi's power allowed him to heal as fast as most vampires when he was human. I'm more worried about his mentality."

"Well what do you expect after everything?"

"I don't know. I just hope that some time without any fighting or drama, maybe Naruto can relax and just let it out."

"I'm gonna talk to Tsunade for you, okay? Though I don't like Orochimaru, the more I think about this it's definitely not a bad idea. If you guys stayed there for a while, away from Konoha, at least until things get back to normal and settle down, it'd be safer. Protect each other, Sasuke."

"You don't need to say that."

"I know, good night, little brother." Itachi finished, hanging up. Sasuke sighed, hanging up the phone and returning to the room.

"What was it?" Naruto questioned as Sasuke returned.

"I just wanted to call my brother, tomorrow you should call Iruka and them, they've been worried."

"Okay." Naruto nodded.

"I gotta go and help Orochimaru finish with those files, you should get some sleep."

"Got it, night."

"Night." Sasuke nodded to Naruto as he left, Naruto turning over in the bed and watching the wall.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

"I miss you too." Naruto smiled,

"Are you hurt? Is everything okay?" Iruka questioned.

"For the third time, I'm fine Iruka, I'm with Sasuke and everything's fine."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Iruka." Naruto pouted into the phone.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Look Kakashi wants to talk, and Kiba, and Gaara and, well, I'll just pass you on." Naruto inwardly groaned, it wasn't that he wasn't happy, but he was more annoyed with the numerous repeated questions and well-meaning, but unneeded, concern.

"Hey kid."

"Hey, Kakashi. First, I just wanna thank you, Sasuke said how you were one of the people who came after me, I really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it, Naruto." Kakashi smiled. "We love you kid, don't you ever do that to us again."

Naruto gently smiled, "I love you too, I'll try not to."

_~/Sasuke P.O.V/~_

"The four noble clans appear pretty often, mainly the Uzumaki." Sasuke commented as they flipped through the files. "Experiments, blood tests, trials, all this stuff, why was he so obsessed? And what's so important about the Uzumaki's power?"

"What does Naruto know about his powers?"

"Not much, I mean, they only recently awoke in him and his parents never taught him much. Naruko might have mentioned something in the videos she made for him, but she herself couldn't completely control it."

"Okay, well, what about Kyuubi, he's not part of the direct line, but he is an Uzumaki, one that was old enough to awaken this power."

"Well we know that all Uzumaki's can awaken it, but only a direct descendant can master it. I don't think Kyuubi ever thought much of it." Sasuke replied.

"What do you know, not about the power, but the Uzumaki's in general?"

"What can I know? My entire life was spent against them, and most records were destroyed in one war or another."

"True, but where would Obito get this information?"

"There might be something left at the original Uzumaki hideout, no one specially went to destroy their records after the civil war ended but even then there shouldn't be anything significant before Itachi and my time.

"Anywhere else?" Ororchimaru questioned.

"I don't know, but what does it matter, we'll be looking for some power that randomly appeared, like that's not common enough in a clan's history, it'd be impossible to find the exact source he's looking for."

"Okay, so how does this power connect with the bloodlines? How does this Uzumaki bloodline ability connect to all bloodlines? How does it all connect?" The two thought for a second, but neither said anything.

"Okay, look, what do we know about the Uzumaki? They were originally part of the Senju clan, however the clan began dividing because some of the clansmen began developing the ability to seal, and their stamina, healing rate and lifespans grew exponentially, finally they became so different that they broke off from the Senju clan and developed their own clan, the Uzumaki." Sasuke spoke.

"It's fair to say they were Kurama's descendants, otherwise, why would there suddenly be a division?" Orochimaru questioned.

"It just takes one person to awaken some rare ability and it becomes a common for their descendants, though I agree with you, that might have been caused by Kurama, we can't ignore other possibilities."

"Well, could you get a hold of the Senju files?"

"They're undoubtedly gone, and the break off was before Itachi and my time."

"Well when did that power up thing appear in the Uzumaki bloodline?" Orochimaru asked.

"Again, before my time."

Orochimaru pouted, "You're so useless." Sasuke glared at Orochimaru. "Would your little pet know?"

"Would you stop cursing Naruto?" Sasuke glared receiving an uninterested shrug in response, "I don't wanna bring it up if I don't have to and if Naruto did know something important don't you think he would've said something?"

Orochimaru sighed in irritation at the response, "We don't even know where the loyalties of your fox lie, you shouldn't put so much faith in him."

"What do you mean?"

"We don't know what happened with Obito and him, Obito might have done something, please; he probably did."

"I dare you to touch him." Sasuke growled.

"Don't worry, I know he's yours, my dear. However, don't forget, the boy spent almost a month at Obito's side, he can't be trusted." Orochimaru said in irritation, emphasizing the words, 'my dear.'

"I sure as hell trust him more than I trust you."

"That's fine, but I don't trust him. I'm putting my neck out too." Orochimaru sighed in irritation.

"You don't need to trust him."

"Fine, still, if he does know something he might not realize it's important. You should give Naruto the choice, you're too strict, dear."

"What should be my choice?" Naruto asked, entering the room and returning Orochimaru's phone.

"What happened while you were with Obito, did he say anything?" Orochimaru bluntly asked.

Naruto thought for a moment, shrugging, "Obito said he wanted my power." Sasuke felt his concern grow by how easily the boy answered the question.

"Why, what's so important?" Orochimaru questioned.

"I don't know, sorry."

"No, it's fine. Naruto, how are you feeling, physically, I mean?" Sasuke questioned, Naruto smiled, shrugging,

"It doesn't hurt."

Orochimaru stood up, interrupting the two. "Well I'm getting hungry. I'm gonna go get some blood, want some?" He looked at Sasuke.

"No." Sasuke stopped, "Hey, do you have human food here?"

"Some animal meat, maybe, and a few herbs, I think."

"Hn." Sasuke looked at Naruto, "Are you hungry?"

"Hm? Not really, kinda." Naruto shrugged in response.

"When was the last time you ate?"

Naruto looked up, awkwardly scratching his head, "I don't remember."

"Are you kidding me?" Sasuke growled, "Say something next time, dobe!" Sasuke scowled, rubbing his temples. "Come on." Sasuke said, signaling for Naruto to follow.

"I'll take you to our fridge." Orochimaru smiled as he led them away.

Orochimaru walked to the fridge, grabbing a bottle full of crimson liquid, to which both assumed was blood. "Just don't confuse animal and human meat." Orochimaru smiled.

"Is there any place to buy food nearby?" Sasuke asked.

"I haven't really looked, you might find edible berries on the trees." Orochimaru replied.

"The steak is fine, as long as it's not human." Naruto laughed awkwardly.

"Oh well." Sasuke replied, unsure, heading to the fridge and grabbing a pack of meat, smelling it curiously, then looking at Orochimaru, "You weren't kidding about the human meat, were you?"

"Of course not, the DNA is used in experiments, and it's just as good as blood." Sasuke sighed, grabbing another pack, smelling it, then once again looking at Orochimaru, "Hunter. Should I ask where you got this?"

"Don't worry, my dear, I rob graves."

"Nice." Sasuke shook his head in annoyance, grabbing another bag. "Okay, is this really animal meat or did you do something to it?"

"It's safe, don't worry, animal DNA has its uses too. Vampires, humans and hunters aren't the only species on this planet."

"So, what, you're trying to make a werewolf now?"

Orochimaru laughed, "I love the imagination humans have, but, why not. I mean our facial structures shift when we become vampires, and it's painless, so I don't see why we can't change even more, with the help of an animals DNA. Of course, they don't mix, so that's for later, once I can mess with our subset."

"Good luck with that." Sasuke sighed, looking around the kitchen, then at Orochimaru. "No stove, really?"

"We have a Bunsen burner and a kiln."

"I can make a kiln work."

"Follow me, honey." Orochimaru said, grabbing Sasuke's arm and leading him away. Naruto looked at them curiously, what was with the nicknames?

"We'll be back, Naruto." Sasuke called.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

Naruto awkwardly beat his hands against the table, waiting for the other's to return, he was so bored.

"Sorry it took so long." Sasuke said as he returned, a plate with two well-done steaks on it. "We had to clean the kiln." Sasuke said in irritation, he set the plate down in front of Naruto, sitting across from him at the round table, "This is the best we can do for now, I think something softer would probably be better, but we don't have anything softer."

Naruto laughed sheepishly, scratching his head, "It's fine, thank you." Naruto began picking at the food, using a scalpel to cut the meat, and a fork prong, which would usually be used in experiments. He choose not to comment on it, and began eating the meat. Naruto got halfway through the first steak before he began coughing.

"You okay?" Sasuke asked, Naruto turned away from the steak as he violently coughed. Sasuke stood next to the man, gently rubbing his back, "You were eating it too fast." Naruto fell forward, throwing up violently.

"I'm sorry." He said when he finally stopped, Sasuke helping him back to his feet.

"Don't apologize. I knew your stomach wouldn't be able to handle it. Can you get to the bathroom yourself?"

"Yeah, sorry." Naruto said, pushing away from Sasuke.

"Okay, I'll clean up here, then afterwards head back to the room and relax, tomorrow we'll have to find a nearby town and get some proper food. Okay?" Naruto nodded in turn, walking away. Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, he was exhausted from worrying so much. He would have to clean everything up.

_~/Naruto P.O.V/~_

Naruto ran to the toilet, falling forward as he threw up into the bowl. There was no more food in his stomach as he threw up a mix of stomach acid and blood, he lied back against the tub, his body shivering uncontrollably. He ran a shaky hand through his hair, he was absolutely fine.

_~/Sasunaru P.O.V/~_

"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked Naruto as he entered the room, having cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, Naruto rubbing his hair dry with a towel, following his shower.

"I'm fine, would you stop asking?" Naruto pouted, dropping the towel around his shoulders, slumping onto the bed.

"I'm just worried." Sasuke said, sitting next to Naruto on the bed.

Naruto looked Sasuke over for a second, "I remember a lot of fighting to the point everything was just blood red, but honestly, the memory doesn't bother me, it's a numb feeling whenever I think about it, even talking about it. My body, I just don't feel the pain, whether I don't want to or it's not there, I really don't know. I'm really fine though, it's not affecting me." Naruto smiled, shrugging. "That's why you don't need to worry, I don't feel anything in relation to it."

"Naruto." Sasuke closed his eyes, speaking, "That's not something you should just accept, I understand cutting yourself off, but it's not healthy, you have no idea how something like that could affect you, your emotions." Sasuke grabbed the towel, gently rubbing it through Naruto's hair.

"Don't worry about me, I'm really fine. You know, I think, rather, I'd prefer if you stopped treating me like I'm going to break any second and we returned to fighting every three seconds, rather than being treated kindly out of pity."

"It's not just pity." Sasuke whispered, slightly moving closer to Naruto.

"Then what is it?" Naruto whispered, grabbing Sasuke's arm, Sasuke released the towel, gently rubbing the scars on Naruto's cheek. He looked from Naruto's scars into his eyes, being drawn in by the bright blue orbs, Naruto felt himself drowning in the darkness of Sasuke's eyes, gently shutting his eyes as the heat from Sasuke's breath made him dizzy.

Sasuke watched Naruto's eyes flutter closed, he slightly closed his eyes, just enough to see Naruto as their lips connected, before completely shutting them and engulfing in the feeling of the other. Naruto tightened his grip on Sasuke's arm, gently pushing deeper into the kiss. Sasuke rubbed Naruto's cheek gently, pulling away from Naruto despite the blonde's discontent.

Sasuke removed his hand from Naruto's cheek and gently thumped Naruto's forehead. He stood up, "I should get back to helping Orochimaru."

Naruto opened his eyes, frowning slightly as he watched Sasuke leave, heavily blushing when the Uchiha was finally gone. Sasuke stopped in front of the door, covering his lips as he stared at the ceiling.

* * *

So yay, finally got some action, we'll see some more next chapter too, so be prepared ;)

Fav, follow, review. I enjoy your opinions!


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